


Can I Call You Peter Pan?

by karadanverz



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, School Play, The High School Peter Pan AU nobody asked for
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-18
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-04-24 18:25:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 36,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14361078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karadanverz/pseuds/karadanverz
Summary: After Zari forces everyone to audition for the school play, Sara finds herself striving to get a lead just so she can rub it in the smug face of Ava Sharpe: The infuriating hall monitor that just so happens to be a theatre student.





	1. The School Play?

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! So I have had this idea in my prompt notebook since February 26th and I'm finally writing it. I don't know how often this is going to be updated, but I can pretty much guarantee that there will be at least one update every week.
> 
> If you're new here, be sure to follow me on twitter @Ella_The_Writer to hear me scream about whatever I happen to be writing.
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are greatly appreciated. You guys fuel me :)
> 
> Enjoy!

"Alright, which one of you is going to come to hell with me for the next few months?" asked Zari as she dropped a stack of fliers onto the table her friends were sitting at.

The "Legends", as they called themselves were all relaxing after school in the library, their usual hangout spot.

"The school play?" asked Ray as he picked up one of the pink sheets of paper.

"Yes." replied Zari "I was elected against my will to be the tech manager person or whatever for the show. This means, I have no choice but to be a part of this lame-ass excuse for a performance."

"Well, of _course_  you were selected to run the special effects and stuff! You're really good at that kind of thing." Said Amaya, causing Zari to blush.

It was true. Zari was probably the best 'computer person' in the school. When she wasn't using her talents to hack the bell schedule for Starling City High, she could do amazing things. Not to mention, she was still the new kid, so the administration trusted her enough to let her be in charge.

"I'm going to back out of this unless one of you auditions." Zari warned as she crossed her arms and gave her friends the most convincing pout she could muster.

"I don't _do_  plays." grumbled Mick, which, was fair and most certainly expected coming from _him_.

Not wanting to make her friend feel bad, Amaya picked up a form and looked at it."Maybe I'll do stage crew.” she said.

Nate looked at Zari who was still pouting and he sighed before picking up a flier "Yeah, why not."

"If he's in, I'm in." shrugged Ray as he gave Nate a high five before skimming the pink paper in his hand.

Zari turned to Sara who had been awfully quiet "Sara? What do you think?"

"What play are they even doing this year, because I swear to god if it's _Shrek_  the musical, I am going to-"

"It's Peter Pan." interrupted Nate.

Sara cocked an eyebrow at Zari. "Peter Pan?" repeated the blonde.

"Most background parts involve carrying a weapon, and there's at least one fight scene." offered the hacker in a final attempt to sway her friend's opinion.

Sara flashed the tiniest of smiles before slowly reaching over and grabbing a flier "I guess I'm in. This'll be one legendary play."

"Yes!" exclaimed Zari, pumping a fist in the air "You won't regret this! Well, never mind, you probably _will_  regret this, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there."

Amaya smiled and shook her head at her best friend’s excitement “Let’s just sail to Neverland or whatever and get this over with.” 

_____________________________________________

After that day in the library, the school play became just another thing. The world kept turning and everyone continued their lives normally.

A few days after Sara had agreed to audition for the play, she tiredly walked into the locker room for sixth period gym, just as she would any other Monday.

She blindly turned the combination lock on her gym locker, but when she opened it up, she was greeted with... well, nothing.

"Shit!" the blonde exclaimed aloud, slamming the small locker door to emphasize her frustration. "I left my gym uniform in my hall locker! If I get caught not wearing it again this semester, I might as well just say goodbye to my gym grade."

Kendra, who may have parted ways with the Legends but was still friends with Sara, turned to her. 

"Sara, don't risk it. You have 45 seconds until the bell rings, and your locker is on the other side of the school. If I were you, I'd probably just borrow somebody's spare-" she started, but before Kendra could finish her sentence, Sara had already gone sprinting out of the locker room and down the hall.

She had made it about halfway to her locker when the bell rung, Sara slowed her pace because her mission was no longer 'Run' her mission was now 'don't get caught without a hall pass.'

She passed the teacher's lounge and saw Principal Hunter. The blonde covered her face with her hand as she sped up past the door and continued on her way.

By the time Sara had successfully retrieved her gym uniform, she was only 30 seconds after the bell. She turned to go back the way she had come, but stopped when she remembered that passing by Principal Hunter again was too risky.

She turned on her heel and started speeding down another hallway. She knew a thing or two about breaking the rules, and she was in no way new at the whole 'running into class after the bell' thing, so Sara was able to dash through the tile halls without making a sound. Sara was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she didn't notice anyone else in the hallway. 

That is, until she ran directly into one of the student hall monitors. 

Sara closed her eyes and hoped that maybe, just maybe, this wasn't the one person she thought it was. Perhaps it would be that dorky clumsy one who usually let her go after she flashed him a threatening glare (what was his name again? Larry? Gary?)

"Miss Lance. What is it this time? Skipping class? Running in the halls? Or are you simply just head-butting me for the fun of it?" asked that condescending, authoritative tone that drove Sara absolutely insane.

The blonde looked up, and to her disappointment, she found herself face to face with Ava Sharpe.

"I was just getting my gym uniform." explained Sara. She didn't have time to argue, or even banter for that matter because there was only so much time until someone realized Sara was missing.

"Do you have a hall pass?"

Sara tilted her head "Ava, I feel offended that you even need to ask at this point in our acquaintanceship."

The taller woman didn't accept that as an answer, so she narrowed her eyes, prompting Sara to continue.

Sara sighed "What do you think?"

"I think you're in the halls during class without permission." said Ava as she reached into her pocket and pulled out her yellow citation sheet.

"C'mon, Ava. I had a good reason this time."

"Maybe you did, but either way, you're not getting out of this one."

"You're in the hallway too." Sara pointed out.

"It's my free period. I'm supposed to be on hall duty for the first half of class until Gary can take over."

_Gary! That was his name!_

Sara threw her arms up in the air in a fit of annoyance and the pink audition form she had picked up from Zari days ago fell out of her jacket pocket and onto the ground.

Ava furrowed her eyebrows and pointed at the sheet. "You're auditioning?"

"I don't owe you an answer to that, but yes."

"You know that the hardcore theatre kids are the only ones that get the good parts, right?"

"And I assume that you're one of those kids?"

"Yeah, I am."

"Good to know." the blonde replied sarcastically "Are you auditioning?"

"As a matter of fact, yes." replied Ava.

It was silent for a moment.

"Are you going to write me a citation or are you just going to keep me in the hall until I'm officially marked late to class?"

Ava considered "Maybe. Depends if I feel like it."

Sara folded her arms. "Look, we both know that I have no problem stripping and putting my gym clothes on right here in this hallway, so you might as well just let me go."

Ava felt herself blushing so she gave in and ended the conversation. "Just, go. I have better things to do than... this."

Sara smiled her signature cocky grin and walked on past Ava before stopping and turning around. 

"Good luck on your audition." she said in an attempt to get the hall monitor worked up. For some reason, Sara just couldn't resist picking fights with her.

"You too." replied Ava. "You're gonna need it." she added.

Sara made it back into the locker room three whole minutes after the bell, and miraculously, she got off clean without anyone noticing her absence.

"Did you get caught?" asked Kendra once Sara had changed.

"You could say that. Hey, do you think I have a chance of landing a good role in the play?"

"I thought you didn't care."

"Well, I care now and I want a lead role so that I can rub it in Ava's face."

Kendra smiled and shook her head at her ambitious friend "I mean, you could probably do it."

Sara nodded "That's all I needed to hear.


	2. The Audition Interest Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team goes to the introduction for the school play and learn about the show, as well as collect some audition information. Meanwhile, with tensions still high between Sara and Ava, Sara becomes even more motivated to knock her audition out of the park!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Sorry for leaving you all hanging there, it's been a hot minute since I found time to write, but I finally planned this fic out and I'm really excited to write the rest.
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are greatly appreciated. Y'all make me smile like an idiot :)
> 
> Also, if you want to listen to me scream internally and leak some writing sneak peeks, check me out on twitter @Ella_The_Writer
> 
> Enjoy!

A week had gone by and suddenly _"The School Play That Nobody Cares About"_ had turned into _"The School Play That Nobody Cares About But The Legends Were Auditioning For."_

"How did we get here?" asked Sara as the final bell rang and she walked out of 7th period history with Nate.

"Well, I assume the bus dropped you off this morning." he said, trying to be a smart-ass.

Sara shot him a look "I _mean_ , how did we get to the orientation meeting for the school play?"

"Well, Zari wanted us to at least audition, and then you suddenly _wanted_  to audition, so here we are. Auditioning."

Sara recalled her conversation with Ava and reminded herself of how satisfying it would be to get a lead role. "Well then, let's go to this stupid orientation."

The play orientation was basically a big meeting where students interested in the play get their ears talked off for an hour and have to listen to a synopsis of the play. However, this is also where the audition information and scripts were given out, so everyone that wanted a fighting chance to be in the play had to go, and this included the Legends... who were now beginning to reconsider their decision to support a friend.

Once they got to the lecture hall, Sara looked around at the crowd.

There was a sizable number of students there, about a hundred, and sure enough, Ava was one of them.

She was easy to point out if you knew what to look for. Ava was sitting up as straight as she could in the front row. The _front row_. Sara rolled her eyes and continued to size up her competition.

Apparently Ava was doing the same thing and her and Sara locked eyes. Sara was in the middle of deciding whether to give her a sarcastic smile or to flip her off, but she was taken out of her thoughts when Amaya tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hey."

"Hi." replied Sara.

"You ready to be oriented or whatever?"

Sara shrugged "That's what orientations are for, I guess."

The rest of their friend group filed in and the Legends took their seats.

"Hey, do you guys know anything about the theatre director?" whispered Nate.

Amaya shook her head "Not really, do you guys?"

"That's the point." said Ray "Nobody knows anything about her! Is she a teacher? Is she a student? Where did she come from?"

"Where did she go?" continued Nate.

"Where did ya come from Cotton Eyed Joe?" said Ray, earning him a sarcastic glare from Sara.

"Point taken." he said, moving back into his seat.

Suddenly, a hush fell over the crowd and a young-looking brunette woman walked onto the stage of the auditorium.

"Hello everyone, my name is Gideon. I am your theatre director for this play."

Nate leaned back in towards the group "She's British!"

Sara turned to him with a look of mock surprise on her face "She is? Really?"

The group turned their attention back to the stage just as Ava had raised her hand to ask a question. "What should we address you as?" she asked.

"Gideon."

"But you're a teacher." replied Ava.

"I never said I was a teacher."

"So you're a student?"

"Never said that either."

Ava was confused "So then what are you?"

"I'm an artificial intelligence system on a magic time traveling spaceship and I'm only real in your imagination." Gideon said with a wink.

That seemed to shut Ava up, or confuse her enough to let it go, because she relaxed back into her chair and stopped engaging in the conversation.

"Very well then, let's get on with it. Gary, would you mind passing out the audition booklets for me?"

A scrawny boy with glasses who Sara recognized as _"the wimpy hall monitor"_ grabbed a stack of little paper booklets and began passing them out to everyone in the auditorium.

When Sara got hers, she opened it and skimmed through it.

Gideon continued "In your books, you will find a brief synopsis of the show, character descriptions, and your sample audition scripts. Each person who chooses to audition must preform 16 bars of a song from the show, and read the monologue provided, as well as run a few lines." 

She looked around at her audience who still looked seemingly indifferent about the whole 'school play' thing "This play is a wonderful one, you know. Pirates, adventure, lost children, magic" Gideon took a brief pause "romance."

Ray looked over to his group "Sounds easy enough."

Sara agreed, liking the sound of this "Yeah, this doesn't look too bad."

"Auditions will be held exactly one week and one day from today on Saturday, and will run from 12:00-1:30 pm, or longer depending on how many people wish to audition."

"We'd have to wake up before 12?" asked Nate "That one might be a deal breaker."

Sara was about to agree with him when Ava asked yet another question "Will you be taking the accomplishments and experience of the auditioning students into account when making the final decisions about casting?"

Gideon raised an eyebrow "Why on earth would I do that? I'll cast people based on talent."

Even though Sara couldn't clearly see her face, she could tell that Ava had gone pale, and in an instant, the blonde let go of any reasons _not_  to audition, including the early morning, because Ava was infuriating and if Sara could land a main role, she would finally put Ava in her place.

The rest of the orientation was mostly lost on Sara. She couldn't stop daydreaming about what it would be like if- no, _when_ she landed a main role. _The way Ava's going to look at me and roll her eyes, she'll probably say something like "Get over yourself, Lance" and she'll give me that fake sarcastic smile, and do the scoffing thing she does that makes her lips curl downward just a bit. Her lips, God, her lips-_

"Sara." Amaya nudged her friend in the shoulder, interrupting her thought process.

"What's up?"

"Zari's about to come on."

Sara and the rest of the group turned their attention back to the stage where Gideon was in the process of explaining the advanced technology used in the play.

"And now I would like to introduce you all to our student tech manager, Miss Zari Tomaz."

There was some light, scattered applause through the auditorium, but the legends weren't really the "light scattered applause" kind of people. At the mention of one of their own, the group erupted into a chorus of clapping and cheering. 

For the most part, they all looked kind of insane, but they _did_  manage to get the rest of the audience members clapping to some degree.

Once Zari had been thoroughly mortified and the clapping had died down, she grabbed the wireless microphone and said a few words "Uh, hello everyone. My name is Zari and I'll be in charge of running all the technological stuff. If you're interested in stage crew, you should go do that." She then relinquished the microphone back to her superior and took a step back.

"Thank you for that moving and inspiring speech, Miss Tomaz, and for the rest of you all, I suppose you can go home. I am looking forward to seeing _most_  of you on Saturday for auditions, and I wish everybody the best of luck."

Nate slung his messenger bag over his shoulder. "Well, I guess we're really doing this."

Amaya nodded "You know, you could always do stage crew."

"Nah." he replied "If I'm doing this I want to be a part of all the action. Maybe I'll audition for Hook."

Sara laughed "Good luck with that, buddy."

"I think I'd make a good Peter Pan." Ray wondered aloud "I _do_  have that special type of 'lost boy' charm. How 'bout you, Sara?"

"I don't care, I just want a legitimate part. I'm thinking... ten lines or more would work for me."

Zari ran up to her friends while they were walking out the door, she was almost out of breath when she reached them "Okay first of all, fuck you guys for clapping." she took a second to catch her breath "Second of all, Sara would make a pretty good Wendy."

Sara snorted "We'll see."

The group continued walking when a certain hall monitor standing by the doors caught Sara's eye. She tossed Amaya her car keys "Why don't you all go on ahead and warm up the Waverider for me. I need to go... do some... business."

Amaya shrugged "Alright team, you heard her. To the Waverider!"

"To the Waverider!" the group uttered in unison.

The "Waverider" is what everyone called Sara's shitty old mini-van. She had obtained it in a less than legal fashion (for the record, betting a car in a game of Mario Kart isn't technically _illegal_ ) and they didn't realize that the term "waverider" was carved into the passenger's seat until after the transaction was made, so it had just kind of became a part of the gang's history.

"Well well well, if it isn't everyone's favourite bitchy hall monitor."

Ava placed a hand to he heart "Aw, Sara, I'm flattered. I didn't know I was your _favourite_."

Sara returned the sarcasm "You know better than anyone that I have a special place in my heart for annoying teacher's pets like you."

"Thanks, that means a lot."

"So" started Sara, putting her hands in her pockets "What do you think of the theatre director? I've got to say, I'm a fan."

"She's weird and I'm pretty sure she hates me."

"That;s why I love her." replied Sara "We have something in common."

Ava scoffed and her lips did the thing that Sara had thought about earlier, causing the blonde to flash a small smile at her own inside joke.

"What?" asked Ava.

Sara cocked an eyebrow and looked at the taller woman confusedly.

"Why are you smiling?" Ava clarified.

As much as she wanted to fight it, Sara could feel her face getting hotter "Oh, I'm just thinking about how good it'll feel to see the look on your face once I get a lead role and you're stuck playing _Pirate Crew Member #4._ "

"Yeah right. I'd be willing to bet that you and your merry band of idiots will sleep in until 3pm and won't even show up on Saturday."

"Oh, we'll be there." said Sara.

Ava nodded insincerely and headed off towards her ride. Sara looked around the parking lot for her friends and when she saw them, she sprinted across the lot over to where they were slowly making their way over to Sara's car.

"Wow, you look peppy." remarked Nate at the sight of the blonde.

"Yeah, did you get into someone's cocaine stash? I told you to stay away from those shady guys by the vending machines..." continued Zari.

"No I'm not high, but I _am_  ready to nail this audition."

"Really?" Amaya asked skeptically.

"Yes. We should all probably get together and practice our audition scripts and shit if we want to do well."

"Oh! We could all come over to my place on Friday afternoon. Maybe I can even make some of my famous studying brownies!" exclaimed Ray.

"That works for me." said Nate.

"Great!" said Sara "Now, let's do this!"


	3. All-Nighter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team goes over to Ray's house to practice for their auditions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! This chapter is a bit of a short one, but I thought I'd post another one while I have time.
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are awesome. I love hearing what you guys have to say :)
> 
> Aaaand, if you want to hear me cry over AvaLance and scream about writing, check out my twitter @Ella_The_Writer
> 
> Enjoy!

  
Because of school work and projects and social stuff, in the days following the "audition interest meeting" Sara was only able to skim through her audition material. 

As for the painfully organized Ava Sharpe, she was doing just fine juggling everything, and still finding time to practice every day.

Sara had vowed to herself long ago that she would never envy _Ava_ , but at this moment, she was admirative of the taller woman's lack of procrastination.

That's why, once the bell rang on Friday afternoon, Sara was hauling her friends into the Waverider and smashing the gas pedal to get to Ray's house. The auditions were tomorrow and there was no time to waste.

Sara wasn't worried about not having enough time to prepare. She was a master of procrastination and was able to cram information and keep calm in a short amount of time. In fact, all of the Legends were. It really come in handy for all the times they had planned a huge prank to pull that coincidentally fell on the same week as a huge project.

"I'll whip up some study snacks and you guys can set up for our auditions." said Ray, jamming his key into the lock on the door.

"So how do you guys want to do this?" asked Zari, setting her bag down in the living room.

"Why don't we all read through the monologue and critique each other?" suggested Nate.

"Sure, that sounds good. Then we can listen through whatever song we have to preform until we have it memorized." said Sara.

"Are you guys sure that we can do all this in one night?" asked Amaya.

"Of course we can! We have-" Sara looked at the clock _3:37pm_ , it read. "at least 5 or 6 hours to get this all done."

Ray popped in with a tray of cookies "Well then, we'd better get started!"  
____________________________________

Soon enough, it was 8pm.

It had been rough, but each of the Legends had gotten their monologues memorized-ish and the audition song had been playing on repeat for so long that it was impossible to forget. Hell, even Amaya, who wasn't even auditioning for a role in the play, had memorized all of the audition material.

Nate plopped down on the couch "I can't do this anymore. I need a break."

Ray stood up "I could go get us more food."

"No!" the group moaned in unison. Ray had supplied them with enough baked goods to feed an army and nobody would be in the mood to eat anything else until graduation.

Ray sat back down "Okay then."

"Mario Kart?" suggested Sara as she rummaged through the piles of scripts on the table for a Wii remote.

"The last time we played Mario Kart together, my cousin's ex-boyfriend lost a mini-van, so no." said Nate.

Sara threw the controller back onto the coffee table "That's... that's fair."

"Netflix?" suggested Amaya, and when nobody opposed, she turned on the TV.

"What should we watch?" asked Ray.

"The Office!" shouted Nate.

"Friends!" Said Sara.

"The Great British Bake-Off!" Yelled Ray from the other room.

"Black Mirror!" protested Zari.

Amaya blinked before turning the TV back to cable. "Yeah okay I'm too exhausted to have that argument so we'll just find something that's on right now."

After a good fifteen minutes of channel surfing, Sara grabbed the remote.

"No, wait wait wait! Go back!" she said.

"What? Did you find something?" asked Ray.

"Yeah, look. They're running one of the live-action Peter Pan movies."

"What channel?" asked Zari.

"One of the weird channels that only ever plays _Scrubs_  reruns and weird documentaries." answered Sara.

"Oh." said Nate "Is it the new movie or the older one?"

"I don't know." replied Sara "The guide says it's from 2003, so it's probably a crappy one."

"Nice." said Zari.

They somehow managed to turn the movie on just as it was starting, and for a while, Ray's living room was quiet, the only noise being the faint dialogue from the TV screen, probably due to everyone being too tired to talk.

Then, the movie got to the kiss scene between Peter and Wendy and the group of friends, being five year-olds at heart, broke the calm silence to discuss.

"I don't remember this part from the Disney movie." said Ray.

"That's because this is the 2003 live action _romance movie_  version." replied Nate.

"This is boring. Can we turn it off?" asked Zari.

Amaya grabbed the remote and pushed a button, turning the screen black.

"Well," said Sara, getting up "We should probably get back to work. We have an audition tomorrow."

Nate groaned "Sara, it's almost 10:30. We should just go to bed."

"Sleep is for the weak!" protested the blonde, yawning as she spoke "Come on, let's just all run lines one more time and then we can all hit the hay."

Because of Sara pulling out her sharp argumentative skills (and her puppy dog eyes), everyone agreed to go over everything one last time and get it perfect before going to bed.

Little did they know that this would end up going until 11:30.

Walking into the Palmer household would have been an adventure at this point in time. There were discarded script booklets everywhere, long forgotten pastry trays scattered across the room, and five sleeping Legends.

Nate had spread himself across the couch in the living room, while Amaya and Zari were cuddling in the armchair that was really only big enough for one person, not that it mattered. Then there was Ray, on the floor by the TV, a couch cushion supporting his head. And finally, Sara, who had been pushed off of the couch by Nate and was now on the floor, her left arm still barely hanging on to the old brown sofa.

And to top it all off, the chorus of "I'm Flying" was playing on a loop, and it would most definitely be going on all night unless somebody happened to wake up and turn it off.

Tomorrow was going to be a big day, but for now, the only thing that mattered was sleep. Lots and lots of much-needed sleep.

 


	4. Audition Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Legends and Ava go in for their auditions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I hope you're all liking the fic so far! This one was a bit slow to get started, but I'm loving the direction it's headed in and you will too.
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are greatly appreciated! You wonderful humans are the sweetest :)
> 
> Enjoy!

Sara woke up on Saturday morning still in a groggy daze from all the work she had done the night before. It took her a moment to realize where she was, and when she did, she looked around at her friends.

Nate was cuddling her right arm as if it was his teddy bear, Ray was knocked out cold on the floor, and Zari was... missing?

Sara untangled her arm from Nate's grasp and walked over to where Amaya was sitting in the armchair with a pillow strategically placed where Zari had been just hours ago.

The chorus of "I'm Flying" was still playing and when the loop restarted, Sara turned her attention to the stereo that had a note on it.

_Hey, so I have to leave early to help set up for the auditions and that's why I'm not here. If you guys oversleep and miss your auditions, I swear I am going to come back here and fucking murder all of you. Anyways, text me when you guys wake up._

_-Zari_

Sara read the note twice before her half-asleep brain could fully absorb it, and when it did, the blonde's head jerked towards the nearest clock.

_11:53_

Auditions were at 12.

In an instant, Sara was shaking her friends awake. "Yo, we have seven minutes to get to school! Let's go Let's go!"

"It's Saturday." groaned Nate, burrowing his head back into his pillow.

Sara snatched the pillow from under him and slapped him with it "We have to go!"

Amaya stood up and rubbed her eyes "She's right, we have to go."

Sara's phone buzzed and when she turned it on, she was greeted with a series of messages from Zari. She decided to just call while her friends woke up and got their shit together.

"Hey Z." said Sara.

"Where the hell are you guys? Please tell me you've been awake for hours and you're on your way."

"No comment. I just woke up and at this rate, getting out of the house is going to take us a while."

A groan came from the other end of the line "You guys have five minutes to get here before auditions start."

"Any chance you could stall for like 10 minutes and buy us some time?"

"I can probably get you guys until 12:15 at the latest."

"Okay cool, that gives us 20 minutes we can do that."

"Good because like I said, I will murder each and every one of you if nobody shows up."

"Alright, love you too, bye." said Sara, hanging up the phone and looking to see if any progress had been made in the whole 'Getting out of bed' mission.

Ray was still sound asleep on the floor and Sara kicked him, causing him to spring up onto his feet.

"Good morning guys, what's up." Ray said cheerily.

"We have 5 minutes to get to school for our auditions, that's what's up!" said Sara, jamming her shoes onto her feet and fumbling through her sweatshirt pockets for her keys.

Soon enough, Sara had sprinted out to her car and the rest of the group was slowly and tiredly shuffling into the van.

Once everyone was buckled in, Sara was driving as fast as she could through the residential neighborhoods surrounding Star City high school.

"Can we get breakfast?" asked Amaya.

"No, we're already late." replied Sara.

"You know, breakfast _is_  the most important meal of the day." said Ray.

"Yeah, I'm with him on this one. I need an energy boost." added Nate.

Sara sighed, feeling hungry herself "Fine, McDonalds it is."

After spending five minutes in the drive-thru, and everyone had been provided with their McMuffin of choice, the team was back on track and Sara was taking every possible short cut she could to get back to the school.

"I think it's working I feel slightly more awake." said Nate between bites of his egg McMuffin.

"Well, this will wake you up even more." said Sara, fiddling with the AUX cord.

The car immediately filled with the sound of "All Star" by Smash Mouth blasting from the speakers.

Sara seemed dead-set on her plan to wake everyone up and get to the auditions, so nobody protested the sudden change in music.

Finally, Sara pulled into the almost empty parking lot and stopped the car. Sure, she may have been taking up four spaces, but it's not like the lot was going to be packed at lunchtime on a Saturday.

By the time the Legends had made it into the building, it was only 12:14. Miraculously, they hadn't been late and the group rushed into the auditorium just as Zari was finishing her "inspiring speech" that she had obviously been dragging on for the last 10 minutes.

The audience cheered at Zari's speech as the Legends took their seats.

"Without further delay, let's get on with the auditions. Here's how this is going to work, either Miss Tomaz or myself will call in a group of five students, you all will audition, and then I will call in the next group? Sound simple enough?" said Gideon, grabbing a clipboard and heading into a side room off to the side of the auditorium.

None of the Legends were in the first few groups so they primarily got to hang out in the auditorium and collect their thoughts. Amaya helped Sara run through her monologue again and Nate got vending machine snacks for everyone.

Sara kept looking around the room, not that she was looking for anyone in particular, but when she saw Ava, she decided that she should walk over.

"Are you auditioning?" asked Ava once she saw the shorter blonde.

"No." Sara replied sarcastically "I woke up before 2pm and drove to school on a Saturday because I wanted to sit in the auditorium for an hour."

"Funny, I just assumed you had landed your ass in Saturday detention."

"Now how would I have done that? Jerry was the hall monitor on duty this week and he doesn't give out pointless citations just for the fun of it."

"First of all," started Ava "His name is _Gary_  and you know that. Second of all, I'm flattered that you've memorized my schedule."

"Hmm, more accurately, I've kept track of my detentions and for whatever reason, they always seem to fall on weeks when you're on duty."

"You know, that is so weird, because I always end up giving the most citations on weeks when you and your little team of idiots are rampaging through the halls during class."

Zari walked out onto the stage holding a clipboard and Ava and Sara had to put their banter on hold while the next group was called.

"Group number 7: Nathaniel Heywood, Amaya Jiwe, Sara Lance, Raymond Palmer, and Ava Sharpe." Said Zari before trudging back into the side room.

Sara flashed Ava a smirk. "I guess we're going in together. For the record, you're going to eat your words when I crush this."

Ava scoffed "Yeah, I look forward to that. Good luck, you're going to need it."

Sara extended her hand to shake the taller woman's "Well, you know what they say. May the best actress win." once Ava accepted, Sara replied to her own proposal "I will."

The group walked into the room off to the side of the stage that was being used to hold auditions. In the room, there was a bench that was just a tad too small for four people, a piano that was so dusty it could have been from the stone age, and a table with three chairs where Gideon, Zari, and Ava were sitting.

"Alright everyone, who wants to go first?" asked Gideon.

"I'll do it." said Ray, walking up to the table. 

"And what part would you like to audition for?" asked Gary.

"Not sure, Peter Pan would be fun, so I guess I'm auditioning for Peter." he replied.

"Alright then, whenever you're ready." said Zari.

Ray's audition went pretty well overall. He fumbled a few lines in his script and he decided to do the whole thing in an Irish accent which was an... interesting choice, but he nailed the singing portion.

"Thank you Mr.Palmer." said Gideon. "Next?"

Ava stood up from her spot on the bench, sandwiched between Nate and Amaya "I'll go."

She walked up to the table with such a confidence that you would think she had done this before. She had. 

"What part would you like to audition for?" asked Gary, just as robotically as he had the first time.

"Wendy." Ava replied smugly.

"Alright, whenever you're ready." said Zari in a tone similar to Gary's.

Needless to say, Ava was amazing. Sara didn't want to admit it, but she was. She was just so confident in front of an audience. The seven other people in the room watched in amazement as Ava flawlessly conveyed emotion through her words and spoke with impeccable timing. Hell, she could even sing.

"Damn." whispered Amaya.

"No wonder she's in _advanced_  theatre." replied Nate. 

Sara waved for her friends to shut up as Ava walked back to the bench. The taller woman did well, and the fact that she _knew_  she did well made Sara want to reach up and grab her by the shoulders and-

"Next?" said Gideon, breaking Sara free from her thoughts.

Nate looked around and stood up, making his way to the table.

By now everyone had pretty much figured out the routine.

"My name is Nate Heywood, I want to audition for Captain Hook, and I will start whenever I am ready" he said, eliminating the need for the people sitting across from him to go through their whole _thing_.

Nate's audition was a fun one to watch. He botched the entire thing, but that's okay because nobody really expected him to succeed, even Nate himself didn't really care about whether or not he landed the part. Though, for the record, certain sections of his monologue weren't half bad.

Finally, it was Sara's turn to go up and audition. She was a bit nervous, considering that if she fucked this up she would never live it down, but she was prepared and knew she was going to crush this.

"What role will you be auditioning for?" asked Gideon.

"Wendy." replied the blonde, turning back for a fraction of a second to wink at Ava (who rolled her eyes in response).

Sara took a deep breath before running through everything. Except for one tiny mistake in her monologue reading, Sara killed her audition, even the singing part. 

Ava was tying to hide it, but she was honestly really impressed. 

The blonde finished off her audition by taking a bow, and then she turned on her heel, walking back to the bench and tipping her imaginary hat at Ava.

The group picked up their stuff and was about to walk out when Gideon stopped them "Wait, we still have one more audition, Amaya Jiwe?"

"Oh, no. I was planning on doing stage crew." Amaya replied.

Zari spoke up from where she was sitting "You might as well audition. After all, you have the material memorized by now."

It was true, after helping Sara and the rest of the Legends practice the night before, Amaya was ready to audition herself if she chose to do so.

She looked at Sara who mouthed the words ' _Go for it!'_

Amaya placed her bag down and walked up to the table, just as everyone before her had.

"Uh, hello, my name is Amaya Jiwe, I don't really care what part I get."

"Whenever you're ready." Gideon said with a smile.

Amaya was a good actress. She knew that, and anyone who had ever seen her act knew that. She was also a half-decent singer, and when she got really invested in a role, she

was phenomenal. Even though she was half-assing her way through this unplanned audition, her potential shone through.

After all of that, the Legends' (and Ava's) audition block was finally over and they could go back out to the auditorium to hang out for the next ten minutes or so while the rest of the auditions finished up.

Ray and Sara were in the middle of a debate over which type of soda was better (Ray was team Pepsi, but Sara refused to abandon the notion that Root Beer was anything less than superior) when Gideon, Gary, and Zari walked back onto the stage.

"Thank you all for coming in today to audition." said Gideon once the room had quieted down.

"All of you did a fabulous job and we look forward to having you guys in the play this year." continued Gary.

"Results will be posted outside the drama classroom on Monday after school." finished Zari.

"Once again, thank you all for coming and see you Monday." said Gideon, and with that, everyone gathered their stuff and left.

It only took 10 minutes for everyone to get back into Sara's van.

"So, can you give us any sneak peeks on casting?" asked Ray once Zari got buckled in to her seat.

"No can do. Student tech managers have no say in any of it, it's all up to Gideon." replied Zari.

"Well did she say anything that could be important?" asked Sara, making a right turn out of the school's parking lot.

"Nope. Wait, maybe."

"Spill!" Amaya said, eagerly.

"I don't know if it means anything, but after your group left she looked at her notes and she laughed, but in a creepy way. Like she was planning a murder or something." said Zari.

"Well if she _is_  a homicidal psychopath, let's hope she goes after Ava first." said Sara.

"Is that all the information you picked up?" asked Ray "She didn't say anything about casting me as Peter?"

"Nope, not a word." Zari said.

Nate shrugged "Well, I guess we have to wait until Monday." 

"Monday." Sara repeated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay sorry to let it cliffhang like that, but I promise the results will drop next chapter and you guys will not be disappointed ;)


	5. A Whole New World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The cast list that no one saw coming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Things are really starting to kick into gear, so I am excited for you guys to read the rest of the story. I will try to update sometime this week.
> 
> Ass always, comments and kudos are greatly appreciated. Your positive energy fuels me :)
> 
> Enjoy!

"You nervous?" Amaya asked Sara as the pair walked down the quiet hallway after school. They were on their way to see the cast list for Peter Pan and after an agonizing weekend of waiting, Sara needed to see the list. Now.

"Yeah, a little bit." It was true. As much as the blonde didn't want to admit it, she was nervous. If she got stuck playing /Random Pirate #6/, the next month or so leading up to the play would suck, and to make matters worse, that would mean Ava would have won.

By the time they had made it to the drama classroom, Zari, Nate, Ray, and even Mick had caught up with them.

There was a crowd of students surrounding the door, all of them pushing through one another to see the list.

"You guys stay here, I'll fight my way through." said Nate, setting down his bookbag.

"Wait." said Amaya "If we all go there's a better chance that at least one of us will see the list."

"Good idea. You guys can fight through the mob, I'll stay here." replied Sara.

"You sure?" asked Zari.

"Yeah, I'm fine." she replied.

Sara put her hands in her pockets as she waited for her friends to come back and she resisted the urge to start pacing.

Ava walked out of the crowd and Sara looked at her to try and gauge how things went based on the taller woman's reaction.

Her face looked pale as if she had seen a ghost and Sara took that as a god sign. When she looked at Sara, Ava's face went from white as a sheet of paper, to bright red in an instant.

Sara felt a bit more relaxed, that is, until Ray and Amaya came back. Their clothes were disheveled and it appeared that Ray was missing his right shoe.

The looks on their faces were a mixture of confusion, shock, disappointment, and excitement.

"What happened?" asked Sara.

"Wow." replied Amaya, ignoring the question. She was looking off into nowhere in a confused daze.

"Who got cast as Wendy?" Sara asked again, more urgently this time.

"Ava." replied Ray, even _he_  looked stunned.

"What? That doesn't make any sense, she didn't look too happy when I saw her a second ago. What part did I get?" Sara was confused.

Before anyone could answer, Zari walked back to the group, her face a deep shade of red, and Nate walking close behind her, giggling as if he had been teasing the hacker.

"C-congrats. You'll be great." she said, awkwardly patting Amaya on the back.

"Can somebody please explain to me what the hell is going on?" asked Sara.

"Dude, you have _got_  to see that casting list for yourself because _damn_." answered Nate "I did not see _any_ of that coming."

Sara pushed past her friend and marched over to the door to the drama room. The crowd had dispersed by then, but the blonde could feel eyes on her as she made her way up there.

She prepared herself for the worst, that's how Sara always approached things. If she prepared herself for the worst anything else would be an improvement of some sort That's why when Sara was skimming the cast list, she started at the bottom.

As she was skimming upward, she saw some of her friends. Ray and Nate had been cast as the younger Darling brothers, ans sure enough, Ava had been cast as Wendy, but the two most surprising castings were the top two.

_Captain Hook: Amaya Jiwe_

_Peter Pan:       Sara Lance_

Sara re-read that a second time, and then she read it again. And again. As many times as it took for her to burn the image into her   
brain. As many times as it took for her to process what this meant. As many times as it took for her to believe this was real.

She then returned to her group and was about as shocked as they were.

Amaya was the first to say anything "How is this possible? I barely even auditioned! I'm not an _actress_!"

"Sure you are." replied Ray "You did really well in your audition, and now you get to play everyone's favourite pirate! Well, I guess you're everyone's _least_  favourite pirate in this case, but you'll still be great!"

"Yeah." agreed Nate "Just imagine it, you'll be in full pirate gear, with a sword, threatening bad guys and letting your villainous side shine through." After Nate said that last part, he looked at Zari who was still blushing, probably thinking about how she'll be spending the next couple of months with Amaya playing a hot pirate villain.

Sara smirked at her friend and thought about what she had just read some more "Well, I have the lead role. That's pretty cool."

"Yeah. It's a shame that you and Ava will have to spend all that time together though." said Amaya.

Then, Sara had one of those light-bulb realization moments and all of the puzzle pieces fell into place.

She was playing Peter Pan.

Ava Sharpe was playing Wendy.

Sara thought back to the movie they had all watched on Friday night, and then she thought back to Ava's face just minutes ago.

She was playing Peter Pan, and Ava was playing Wendy. Not only were they playing the two leads, they would be playing _love interests._

Sara could feel her face getting hot at the thought of... all that, but the blonde chose to ignore it and instead, walk up to Ava and make her squirm a bit.

"Looks like you were wrong." started Sara "It seems that they _do_  give out lead roles to non-theatre nerds."

"I still think that this was a misprint." Ava replied.

"Well, if you don't like me now, you're going to have to learn." said Sara "You do know that our characters are like, a _thing_."

Ava scoffed "Don't remind me. Luckily, I'm a good actress."

"Oh, I'm sure after the first rehearsal you won't even have to act anymore."

Ava rolled her eyes "Get over yourself, Lance."

_There it is._  thought Sara. She was dying inside because of this "situation" and she could tell Ava was as well, so Sara decided not to   
continue their banter for now.

"Well then, I guess I'll see you at rehearsal." said Sara.

A look of dread came across Ava's face as if it was really starting to hit her that she would be dealing with Sara as a scene partner for the next couple of months. "Unfortunately." she replied.

The Legends must have started to come to terms with everything because when Sara came back, they looked more like people than the dumbfounded robots she last saw.

"So..." said the blonde "When's our first rehearsal?"


	6. What Is This Feeling?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team gets their scripts and find some rather... interesting details.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Super sorry about how ong it took me to update, I've been swamped with work and stuff for the past week, but I will try to get a new chapter out sometime this week.
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are awesome! Y'all make me smile :)
> 
> Enjoy!

  
Sara took her time as she made her way to the auditorium for the first rehearsal. She walked by each of her friend's lockers, attempting to collect them on her journey, but Nate was the only one she could fine.

"Are you nervous?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Sara scoffed "No, of course not. Besides, the first rehearsal is just going over scripts and stuff."

The blonde was most definitely nervous, but Nate desired that it was in his best interest to let this one go. "Alright, whatever."

When the two Legends arrived at the auditorium, the rest of the group was already there waiting for them (which was to be expected because Sara _insisted_  on taking the long way) and Nate walked over to them.

Sara was about to join her friends, when she noticed something unusual.

Ava was there, but instead of sitting annoyingly straight in the front row, she was awkwardly walking around by the stage.

Sara looked at Ava, and then to her friends, and back to Ava. Her mind wanted to just turn around and take her seat by the Legends, but her body betrayed her and soon enough, Sara found herself walking up to Ava Sharpe.

"You alright? I couldn't help but notice that you're not trying to win an Oscar for sitting better than everyone in this room, and I have to say, I'm a bit worried."

Ava rolled her eyes "Well, it's nice to know you care, but I was just..." she trailed off.

"What?" asked Sara "Lay it on me."

"I was just wondering if we were like... supposed to sit together or something because we're the leads."

Sara thought about it "I mean, I think the first rehearsal is just passing out scripts and stuff, so I think we can spread out for that, but I'm flattered that you were so excited to sit with me."

Ava made her face frown in the sarcastic way that drove Sara absolutely insane, and walked away.

Sara wanted to continue the argument, but instead ventured back to her group.

"Yikes, did the Wicked Witch of the West get to you?" asked Zari.

"The Wicked Witch is actually a character from The Wizard of Oz." interjected Nate

Sara ignored him "What did you mean? She didn't get to me." she said just a bit _too_  defensively.

"Well, whether she got to you or not, you look _whipped._ " added Ray, unaware of the effect his words had on the blonde.

Sara's face turned red and despite her efforts, she couldn't help but look like a deer caught in headlights. "I do not look whipped."

"Your face is really red, just so you know." Ray pointed out, trying to help but failing miserably.

"Well yeah, of course my face is red. I'm pale. It's sunny. I _burn_." replied Sara.

Amaya knew better than to let this go on, so she abruptly changed the subject. "Captain Hook. Wow. Do you think I can pull off playing a villain?"

Now it was Zari's turn to become a blushing mess "I'm sure you'll be fine."

"You sure?" asked Amaya "I've never really been an actress and I'm not sure if I'll be able to capture the whole 'dangerous' essence."

Nate flashed a knowing smile in Zari's direction before joining the conversation "Maybe Zari can help you with your lines."

"That... actually sounds like a pretty good idea." said Amaya.

"Don't worry," said Sara "You'll be amazing."

The group took their seats just as Gideon walked onto the stage. "Is everyone ready for our first rehearsal?" she asked.

There was some scattered cheering and applause.

"Alright then." she continued "Right now, I'm passing out your script books. I encourage you guys to look through them, after all, the version we're preforming isn't the Disney version you all know and love. It's reminiscent of the original play with a few... tweaks here and there."

The books were fairly large and fairly heavy, There were about a half an inch thick, which is a lot bigger than it sounds, and once Sara held her script book for the first time, the reality of all this finally started to hit.

She was in the school play. Not only that, but she auditioned, and she got in. Sara was playing a lead role, because she was good enough to do so, and the whole thing was kind of shaking. On top of all that, she would be acting alongside Ava Sharpe, a woman who weeks ago was her mortal enemy, but now? Now, Ava was just a pain in the ass.

While Sara was having her revelation, she was too wrapped up in her own thoughts to notice the dead silence around her.

She looked over to Amaya who was staring at the book, a look of surprise on her face.

Then, Sara looked to Zari who was smiling as if she was trying to hold back a laugh, her eyes glued to the booklet.

Then, there were Ray and Nate, who were both frozen as they looked at their books, a look of shock that was identical to Amaya's.

Amaya was the first to look up and when she did, Sara nudged her in the shoulder. "What's up?"

"Holy shit." was her response.

"What?" repeated Sara.

"Dude, read this." said Nate, handing Sara his book that was flipped to a certain page. 

Sara skimmed through the page, seeing nothing more than dialogue. When she finally realized what everyone was freaking out about, she paused and immediately looked up over the sea of people in the auditorium.

Her eyes locked with Ava's and when they saw each other, both women immediately looked back down, re-reading their scripts and hoping this was all some weird fever-dream.

 

**_[PETER takes a step closer to WENDY]_ **

**_PETER: I must go, but know that I care for you deeply._ **

**_WENDY: I care for you deeply as well, Peter._ **

**_[PETER and WENDY kiss passionately]_ **

 

Sara handed the script back to Nate and looked up to the ceiling. 

"Fuck." she whispered to herself.


	7. Don't Get Distracted

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After reading the scripts for the first time, tensions are high during the second rehearsal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Hope you like this chapter. I'll try and get a new one out later tonight depending on how things go.
> 
> I recently made a twitter account for my writing adventures. Be sure to follow @Ella_The_Writer for information and other stuff.
> 
> Comments and kudos are awesome! I really enjoy reading your thoughts :)
> 
> Enjoy!

There was a kiss scene. Of course there was a kiss scene. 

Sara didn't really remember _t_ _hat_  being a part of the play, but she had a sneaking suspicion that this was one of the "tweaks" Gideon had mentioned.

"Are you paying attention?" asked Amaya, elbowing Sara in the ribs and bringing her back to reality.

Sara nodded and looked back to the stage. She hadn't noticed that Gideon had started talking about the play again.

As hard as she tried to pay attention, the whole thing was mostly lost on Sara. All she could retain were snip bits of information about the schedule and rehearsal dates. She was too busy thinking about the fact that by the time this was all said and done, she and Ava would have kissed. It's not like Sara hadn't _thought_  about it. After all, Ava was pretty hot when she wasn't dressed like a 45 year-old librarian.  
__________________________________________

The first rehearsal had ended just as quickly as it had started and Sara had to get out. She had to get some fresh air, or go to the vending machines, or go _somewhere._

Anywhere but that auditorium.

As Sara was navigating her way through the students gathered outside the school, she ran into someone and almost took them both to the ground.

"Sorry." she mumbled as the blonde restabalized herself and looked around.

Because Sara's luck seemed to be less than great these days, when she finally looked up to see who she had bumped into, Ava was there, staring back at her.

"Slow down, Lance. We probably won't get to the kiss scene until next rehearsal, there's no need to leap onto me just yet." Ava said this with the same amount of sarcasm in her voice as usual, but she was unable to meet Sara's gaze.

"Funny." Sara said, avoiding eye contact as well, and walking past the taller woman.

Ava adjusted her jean jacket and looked behind her to where Sara had stormed off to. She had definitely thought about kissing Sara before, but never under _these_ circumstances. And besides, it's not like Sara would ever change. She would always be the same irresponsible Legend she had always been, or at least, that's what Ava had been telling herself to make this whole 'Love Interest' thing easier.

Things were always easier when feelings stayed far, far, away.

The taller woman abruptly turned around and headed off in the other direction, forcing herself to think about anything _but_  the impending kiss.  
___________________________________________________

Soon enough, it was Thursday and that meant it was time for another rehearsal.

This time, Sara walked to the auditorium with Zari because picking her up meant taking the long way, and what Sara needed right now was time.

"How do you like being tech manager?"

Zari considered for a moment before answering "It's alright. Gary is just as incompetent as I thought he would be, but at least I get to hang out with you guys."

"Yeah." replied Sara "It's nice that we're all together. And I guess I like being a lead, even if I have to do the kiss scene."

The environment in the auditorium was painfully awkward. Or at least, that's how it was for Sara. For anyone else, this was a completely normal rehearsal, but for Sara and Ava, this was a minefield of tension. One wrong step and the shit hits the fan.

"I think we're supposed to sit with our groups." said Ray "Lost boys with lost boys, pirates with pirates, leads with leads, and so on."

Sara nodded and looked at where Ava was milling around the room.

"Yikes, that means you're stuck with Little Miss Hall Monitor." said Nate, causing Sara to advert her gaze and look up at him.

"Yep. I guess so."

"Any last words?" joked Amaya.

"Yeah, whatever you do, _don't_  let me fall in love with her." Said Sara. Her tone was light and she said that like she was joking, but internally, she was honestly hoping that her friends could get rid of whatever this feeling was before it became too strong to ignore.

Ray saluted his friend "We'll make sure of it."

Sara smiled and gathered her stuff, walking down to the front row where Ava was.

"Do you know what scene's we're working through today?" asked Sara, trying to make the situation a little less awkward with some small-talk.

"I'm not sure, but I know we're not doing _that_  one. At least not today." Ava replied.

Sara felt relief rush over her body and some of the tension in the room evaporated. She was about to say something else when Gideon took the stage and the room went quiet.

"Hello everyone, I hope you're all excited to finally rehearse! Today we will be working on the opening scenes and some of the songs." she said in her usual 'A little too excited about this' manner.

There was some scattered cheering throughout the auditorium before the room went quiet again.

Gideon finished her usual instructional lecture and everyone scattered to where they were supposed to be for the first scene.

"You ready?" asked Ava while the tech was being set up.

"Not really, but we're doing this whether I'm ready or not." Sara answered honestly.

"Yeah. Might as well enjoy this while we can. I heard from Gary that the kiss scene is next rehearsal."

Sara's eyes went wide "What? That doesn't make any sense! Why would we go out of order like that?"

Ava shrugged "No idea. Maybe it's because the weird theatre director is pissed at me."

"Well," started Sara "You're not very likable so that's entirely plausible."

Ava shot Sara a look but decided to ignore her comment "Anyways, let's just focus on the play."

"Sure." said Sara. She then decided to tease the taller woman a bit before their first scene. "Hopefully you won't get too distracted by my lips." 


	8. I'm Flying

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the day of the kiss scene rehearsal, Sara tries to run out the clock (With the help of her friends, of course).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I totally enjoy writing this fic so far, and I am beyond excited to write chapter 9 ;)
> 
> If you haven't heard, I made a writing twitter @ella_the_writer where I scream about writing.
> 
> Anyways, comments and kudos are greatly appreciated. You guys seriously make my day.
> 
> Enjoy!

Since being cast in the school play, Sara's days had become a blur of barely passing her classes, going to rehearsals, and coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.

Sometimes, the combination of sleep deprivation, caffeine, and hormones is what drove Sara to do some pretty crazy shit, like using her lunch period to hunt down Zari during her 4th period science class.

Sara frantically waved through the window of the science lab, and Zari tried to ignore her, until she finally gave up and asked for a bathroom pass, knowing that Sara was going to stay in the hallway until she came out.

"You called?" Zari whisper-shouted once she made it out the door.

"Remember when you said that you had some control over the stuff that happens in the play rehearsals and stuff?"

"Vaguely, why?"

"So you know how the kiss scene is today?" asked Sara, beginning to pace.

"Yeah." replied Zari.

"And do you remember that time you said if I ever needed you to rescue me from Ava you could do that?"

"You know, actually I don't remember ever saying that..."

"Well whatever, I think I have the perfect plan."

Zari placed a hand on Sara's shoulder "Yeah, no offense but in the short time that I've known you, every single plan of yours has either failed miserably, or failed miserably _and_  almost gotten us suspended."

"Well, this one is legal-er than the other three!" the blonde protested.

Zari raised an eyebrow.

"I just need you to find a way to interrupt the kiss scene. Just find a way to push it off until the Monday rehearsal so that I have the weekend to... I don't know, prepare myself."

"Okay, but how do you want me to interrupt it?"

"I don't care." said Sara. "Do whatever it takes."

Zari nodded and got a look in her eyes similar to the one Sara did whenever she had a bad idea. "Okay, I think I can work with that."

______________________________________________________

 

The final bell rang promptly at 2:30 in the afternoon and 20 minutes later, the cast of the school play was back in the auditorium, ready for yet another rehearsal.

Sara wasn't too freaked out about the kiss scene. She trusted her friends to find a way to hold it off, but that didn't stop her from straightening her posture when Ava walked over to her seat.

"Hey." said Ava, not making eye contact.

"Hello." replied Sara, also unable to look her co-star in the eye.

"So, uh, today's the day." said Ava, silently regretting each word that came out of her mouth.

"The day for what?" asked Sara. Even on the verge of a mental breakdown, she was still able to tease Ava.

"The day for um, the thing." replied Ava.

"What thing?" Sara asked again, this time, she was exaggerating her confusion even more.

"You know what, fuck you."

"Is that an insult or your to-do list?"

Ava turned red and Sara couldn't tell if it was from anger or embarrassment, or some combination of the two. Before the taller woman could respond, Gideon walked onto the stage and the room quickly went quiet.

"Good afternoon everyone, today will be tightly packed with acting, as well as beginning to learn choreography, so we have no time to waste." she said.

Sara liked the sound of that. As long as the kiss scene was at the end of the rehearsal, all they needed to do was run out the clock.

Gideon continued "Today we'll start by learning some choreography, then we'll start with the first pirate scene, and wrap it up with the kiss."

Before everyone scattered off to wherever they needed to be, Zari asked a question.

"Is it okay if Gary and I test out the flying harnesses and stuff for Monday's rehearsal?"

"Sure, of course." said Gideon.

Zari gave Sara a thumbs up and the blonde took that as a sign that everything was going as planned.

Sara was finally able to relax.

  
__________________________________________________

 

That moment of relaxation Sara had didn't last very long because things had been going quicker than intended and they were starting up the kiss scene with 30 minutes to spare.

Sara could work with stalling her way through 15 minutes, maybe even 20, but 30 was a long shot, even for her.

She took a deep breath. The kiss scene was going to happen today and by the time 30 minutes was over, she would have kissed Ava. Ava Sharpe's lips would have touched hers.

While the actresses were getting their blocking ready for the kiss scene, Nate ran up to Sara.

"You want me to pull the fire alarm? Because I'll do it. I'll pull the fire alarm." he offered, and the blonde had absolutely no doubt that he would.

Sara shook her head "No. I need to do this. I'm going to have to either way so I might just get it over with."

"Good luck." he said, running back to wherever he had come from.

Ava walked over "Do you want to do like, a practice kiss or something before the real one? Because that's what people do in movies and shit sometimes."

"Not really." said Sara "Allegedly, Zari has a plan and we might be able to hold this off until Monday."

"Really? That's... good. That's good." Ava replied, and although she would never admit it, she was somewhat thankful for the Legends and their crazy antics.

Sara looked up to where Zari was by the control booth, but she wasn't there. The blonde decided to take this as a good sign and focus on the task at hand.

"Alright, places everyone." said Gideon as she walked over to where the women were standing.

Sara and Ava exchanged a look that said _'the distraction's not coming, isn't it?'_ and mentally prepared themselves for what was about to happen.

"Action!" yelled Gideon.

Sometimes, there are moments in your life when you're doing something you know you're going to regret, but your body doesn't stop you so instead you go ahead and screw yourself over while your mind screams at you to run away.

That's how it was for Sara as she looked down at her script and started acting out the scene.

**_[PETER takes a step closer to WENDY]_ **

Sara took a step closer to Ava, bringing the space between them down from two feet, to a little less than one. Before she could stop   
herself, she read out the next line.

"I must go, but know that I care for you deeply." she said, trying to drag out the sentence as much as she possibly could in hopes that something would happen and interrupt everything.

"I care for you deeply as well, Peter." Ava said, talking very particularly to slow things down in any way that she could."

 _ **[PETER and WENDY kiss passionately]**_ , the script booklet read.

Now was the hard part: The kiss scene.

Unsure of how to approach this, Sara awkwardly put a hand on Ava's shoulder. Their faces slowly moved towards each other and for a moment, all of the thoughts about why this shouldn't happen left Ava's head and she instead wondered what Sara's lips tasted like.

Right before the two women's lips could connect, they were interrupted by the sound of... Gary?

"I'm _flying!_ " he screamed as he soared down across the stage in a harness.

Sara quickly moved away from Ava, slightly disappointed, and her immediate reaction was to look up at where Zari was sitting in the   
control booth with a smile on her face.

"Oops." she yelled to the people in the auditorium "There was a malfunction."

It only took a few minutes to get Gary untangled and back on the ground, and once he was alright, things were looking good for   
Sara's plan to delay the kiss.

Gideon looked at the wall clock and saw that there were only 10 minutes left of rehearsal. She could probably have done the scene anyway, but then she had another idea.

"Alright everyone," Gideon echoed "I think after that... incident, we all need a bit of a break, which is why I've decided to end practice a little early."

Sara silently cheered, satisfied that her plan had worked out so perfectly. That is, until Gideon continued.

"All of you can head home. I'll see you Monday. Except for Sara and Ava, can the two of you stay back for a second?"

As Sara and Ava anxiously awaited whatever was about to happen, everyone else filed out of the auditorium to go home.

"Almost got away with it." Said Amaya, patting Sara on the back on her way out the door.

Once the last person had exited the room, Gideon turned to her two leads. "It truly is a bummer that we didn't get to rehearse the kiss scene today, it's a very important scene in the show and it has to be done in an absolutely perfect way in order to convey the right emotion."

"Y-yeah, I totally agree." stammered Ava, unsure of where this was going.

"Which is why I need the two of you to practice this outside of school."

Sara's eyes went wide and Ava choked on her water.

"Outside of school? Like, _together_ , outside of school?" asked Sara, attempting to stay calm.

"Exactly!" exclaimed Gideon "I'm glad you understand." she said, walking away.

The two women were left dumbfounded by how badly this backfired on them.

After a moment, Ava was finally able to say something "How does my house after school tomorrow sound?"

"Sure, yeah, that works." Said Sara, still shook.

"Do you need me to text you my address?" asked Ava.

"Nope, I'm good."

Ava snapped out of her daze for a moment to make eye contact with Sara for the first time since their almost-kiss. "How do you   
know where I live, and more importantly, do I even _want_  to know how you know?"

Sara smiled "Remember when someone, who shall forever remain a mystery, toilet-papered your house last Halloween?"

Ava sighed "Whatever. Just be there after school tomorrow so we can practice the scene and get it over with."

"Geez Aves, didn't realize how eager you are to make out for me."

Ava rolled her eyes "Shut up, and don't call me Aves."

"Whatever you say, _Big A_."

"Aves isn't sounding that bad anymore, now that I think about it." Ava said sarcastically.

Sara winked "That's what I thought, Aves."


	9. Kiss The Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After-school "rehearsal" at Ava's house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So... as some of y'all may know, my laptop is for lack of better term, fucked. Out of commission. Not working. I'm working on fixing this problem right now, but for the time being, chapters may be a little more than a week apart. Sorry!
> 
> Anyways, I had loads of fun writing this chapter! I have been waiting for this one ever since I started this fic. Don't worry, there's still QUITE a bit more story left to tell. After all, we're only a little over halfway through ;)
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are greatly appreciated! You people make me blush so hard haha. :)
> 
> Enjoy!

Ava opened her car door and got inside. She banged her head on the steering wheel causing her Toyota Corolla to let out a small 'chirp' in the empty school parking lot.

She looked out the window at the abandoned school baseball field and replayed the last ten minutes of her life in her head. Over and over, until she was able to pin-point the exact moment that she had made a mistake.

Deciding to just go along with Sara's crazy plan, rather than do the sensible thing and put an end to the scheme before it could start. That's where she went wrong.

Ava had noticed herself being more lenient with the legends ever since she and Sara started working together, and the fact that Sara may not be as immature and annoying as she once thought was yet another frustrating thing about this whole situation.

Now, because Ava had decided to let herself trust Sara she was stuck practicing the  _kiss scene_  with her at her own house.

"Fuck." Ava said to no one in particular before starting the engine and backing out of the parking lot and starting on her way home.

Tomorrow was going to be... interesting, to say the least.  
_________________________________________________________

"So yeah, that backfired." Said Sara, just as she had finished explaining to her friends what happened after rehearsal.

Zari was the first to say anything "You're joking."

Sara shook her head "I wish. Not only do I have to kiss Ava, I have to kiss Ava at her _house_."

"Wow." said Nate "How did you manage to screw things up _this_  badly?"

Sara shrugged "I mean, this isn't the worst a plan of ours has backfired. Remember the guacamole incident?"

Everyone in the room cringed and nodded, remembering an... unpleasant event from their 7th grade year.

"Wait, what's the 'Guacamole Incident'?" asked Zari.

"You don't want to know." replied Ray, still deep in thought about the event.

Sara looked at the clock on the wall at the coffee shop. "Shit, it's almost 8:30. I have to get home."

"Why?" asked Amaya.

"Because," explained Sara "something tells me I don't want to be sleep deprived for my 'study session' tomorrow. If I'm falling asleep and messing up my lines I'll be there _way_  longer than I have to be"

It was true. Well, partially. Sara didn't want to be sleep deprived, but not because she was worried about messing up her lines. Though the blonde would never admit it, she didn't trust herself to do a kiss scene with Ava on less than 8 hours of sleep.  
__________________________________________________________

Sara glanced at her phone to check the time.

_4:58_

She was supposed to meet Ava at 5:00, so she was making fairly good time so far.

Sara looked back up to the cul-de-sac she was driving around for what felt like the thousandth time, and let out a frustrated groan.

She was driving through a series of neighborhoods trying to get to Ava's house, but it was difficult to figure out where she was supposed to be going. The last time she had been to Ava's house, she was winning a prank war. Now, she was working on a play with the taller woman, and she had to admit, these houses looked a lot different when it wasn't 11:00 at night on Halloween.

Sara up at the row of houses in front of her, then down at her phone, and then back up again.

She considered calling Ava o ask for directions, but decided against it because they weren't friends like / _that_ / yet.

 _Friends_.

It had just occurred to Sara that she was starting to see Ava as a friend, rather than an uptight bitch. Well, she still saw Ava as an uptight bitch, but she also saw her as something else.

Sara quickly pushed that thought out of her head and instead decided to focus on the address numbers she was trying to get a glimpse of from the Waverider as it drove around the block for a third time.  
__________________________________________________

At precisely 5:03pm, Ava saw the Sara's old minivan pulling into her driveway and she stopped pacing around her living room as she walked over to her living room window and peeked through the blinds to see Sara get out of the car, sling her messenger bag over her shoulder, and slowly walk up the stone walkway to the front door.

Sara rang the doorbell and Ava waited a moment before answering to make it seem like she was doing something important, rather than just standing there, anxiously waiting for Sara to arrive.

"Hey." said Sara.

"Hi." replied Ava.

They stood there awkwardly for a minute before Ava snapped out of whatever daze she had been in.

"Come in." she said, stepping to the side and letting Sara walk through the door.

Sara looked around the Sharpe residence and took a moment to take everything in.

This was Ava's house. The house she grew up in. The house Sara had walked past whenever she decided to take the long way home. The house that smelled like Ava. 

"If you're trying to get some blackmail on me, you're out of luck because I hid all of the embarrassing photos of me before you got here." Said Ava with a smirk.

Sara smiled "I'm sure I'll find something."

The room went silent and suddenly things were awkward again.

Sara stared at a picture of Ava's 5th grade lacrosse team to avoid eye contact while Ava rolled back on the balls of her feet. Neither woman was sure about how they would start the conversation that needed to be had.

Just then, a small, black and grey, Boston terrier came trotting into the room, quickly pawing at Sara's ankles.

"Hey buddy!" said Sara, bending down to pet the enthusiastic puppy.

"This is my dog Hayley." said Ava "She's 3 years old."

"Hi Hayley!" said Sara, still playing with the small dog as she ecstatically licked the blonde's face.

Ava smiled at the sight. Sara could be like a puppy in some ways and seeing the two of them playing was fun to watch.

A minute or two later, Hayley jumped from Sara's grasp and darted up the stairs. When she got to the top, the puppy looked down at the two women.

"I think she wants us to come upstairs." Said Sara.

"Well, let's go." Replied Ava, grabbing her script and two granola bars from the counter.

Ava opened the door to her room and once again, Sara looked around, trying to catalog everything she saw in her memory.

There were a few trophies and ribbons (some for academics and some for sports) littered on an old bookshelf, a desk that was relatively organized with piled of papers off to the sides, some clothes thrown haphazardly onto the white carpet, and a queen bed with dark blue sheets and a single 'Beebo' stuffed animal up by the pillows.

"Nice room." Said Sara.

"Thanks." replied Ava "You want to get started?"

Sara nodded and looked around for another moment before awkwardly taking a seat on the edge of Ava's bed.

Ava sat down cross-legged next to her and both women had the same thought in that moment.

_Of all the places we could have gone in this house, we picked the bed._

Sara grabbed her script from her messenger bag and flipped to the scene before the kiss.

"You want to start here?" She asked.

Ava looked for the page number and was relieved when she saw that they weren't starting _there_. She nodded in approval.

______________________________________________________

Fifteen minutes passed in what felt like five and soon enough, Sara and Ava were back where they had been the day before. Tensions were high, boundaries were about to be smashed, and the line between love and hate was so blurry you could hardly even call it a line anymore.

Sara scooched closer to Ava on the bed to represent her moving forward as she read her line "I must go, but know that I care for you deeply."

Ava gulped "I care for you deeply as well, Sa-Peter."

They sat there, still as they could be for a moment, until Sara slowly moved forward.

Ava inched her head forward as well, before abruptly pulling away, causing Sara to sit up straight and shoot a confused (and slightly offended) glance in the taller woman's direction.

"Wait!" exclaimed Ava.

"You okay?" asked Sara, her face suddenly feeling hot with embarrassment.

"Yeah, it's just- this is... this is weird." she said trying to find the right words.

Sara let out a small laugh "Yeah, no shit."

"Can I... never mind. Let's take it from the top." said Ava, reaching for her script, though she didn't really need it at this point.

"Nope, what's up?" said Sara, refusing to drop the subject "Can you..." she prompted.

"It's just that it's really weird to do this because I see you as _Sara_  instead of my 'lost boy lover' and I know that I'm supposed to be acting and this really isn't a big deal, but maybe it would be easier if I didn't see you as _Sara_ , so-"

Sara cut her off "You're rambling."

"Can I call you Peter Pan?" Ava blurted out.

Sara looked at her for a moment "What do you mean?"

"Well, it'll be easier for the both of us if, just for the afternoon, we do some... you know, method acting."

Sara nodded "Okay. Until we finish rehearsal, you're Wendy and I'm Peter.

Ava nodded "Well the, let's take it from the top, _Peter_."

"I must go, but just know that I care for you deeply." said Sara, immediately getting back into character and resettingthe tension level in the room to as high as it could go.

"I care for you deeply as well, Peter." said Ava.

Before either woman could use rational thinking to interrupt this moment again, their lips were crashing into each other.

Ava's hand was on Sara's cheek and Sara had moved one of her hands onto Ava's thigh to keep from falling off the edge of the bed.

When they finally broke away after their lips had been touching for just a _little_  too long, they shared a look and without thinking, Sara immediately put her hand on the back of Ava's neck and drew her in for another, more passionate kiss.

One could argue that the first kiss was simply some phenomenal "acting" skills, but the second one was far from just a _preformance_.

All of the tension that had been building up for as long as the two of them could remember, all of the arguments, all of the pent up feelings, all of the nervous energy. It had all evaporated the moment their lips touched.

Sara slowly moved Ava down on the bed and Ava took Sara's hair out of the messy bun.

Neither of them were thinking about the consequences of all this, but neither of them wanted to.

A loud crash jolted them apart and Sara whipped her head towards the door to see what had happened.

She was greeted with the guilty puppy face of Hayley, and a textbook that she had knocked off of Ava's desk.

Sara looked down at Ava and her face was redder than Sara had ever seen it, she assumed that she wasn't any paler.

Realizing that she was still straddling Ava, Sara stood up and walked over to where she had put her messenger bag.

"So uh, yeah. good rehearsal, it's getting late. I should- I should head out." she stammered.

Ava nodded "Yeah, uh, yeah. Great practice. See you on Monday."

Sara attempted to wave at the taller woman and nearly tripped over Ava's book bag on her way out of the room.

She got into the Waverider and drove out of the neighborhood. Sara was in some sort of daze as she drove, still not entirely sure if all of that was some sort of weird sex dream.

She placed a hand to her lips, and then one to her hair that was messily flowing free.

Yep, definitely _not_  a dream.

"There is no way I'm telling my friends about this." Sara said to herself as she flipped her turn signal and merged left.

Ava wasn't taking all of this any better. She was still laying on her bed, slowly letting the smell of Sara disappear from her room.

"What did I just do?" she asked herself, staring at the ceiling.

Neither woman knew what was going to happen on Monday, but things sure as hell weren't going to be "normal."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh! And I forgot to mention this earlier, but shoutout to my little sister for letting me use her laptop to finish writing this chapter. If it weren't for her, I'd be slowly working through paragraph 4 on my phone. She's the Sara to my Laurel :)


	10. I won't say I'm In Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara tries to talk to Ava after the kiss. (Keyword: tries).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys! I am so sorry about the slow updates! I have been hit with all of the tech issues this week, including my sister's laptop dying. 
> 
> Hopefully I'll be able to crank out the next chapter even quicker! I truly live writing this story ❤
> 
> Antways, comments and kudos make me smile :)
> 
> Enjoy!!

Sara's alarm went off at 6am just as it did every Monday morning, but today, it all felt different.  
  
_She_ was different.  
  
_Things_  were different.   
  
Specifically, she and Ava had kissed- no -they _made out_  on Friday, and now Sara felt weird whenever she thought about it and her friends didn't know anything.  
  
So, when she flopped out of bed she stared at her phone for exactly 19 minutes wondering whether or not she should text Amaya everything, until she looked at the time and realized she had 11 minutes to get to school.  
  
Today was going to be an interesting one.  
  
__________________________  
  
As much as Sara had tried to cross paths with Ava... she didn't   
  
Unless you count that brief moment before 4th period when they made eye contact in the hall, but Ava quickly looked down, and when Sara walked over, she was gone.  
  
The blonde was still planning when to talk to Ava when a ketchup-covered french fry hit her right in the forehead.  
  
"Sara? Earth to Sara." Said Zari, probably the one who threw the fry.  
  
Sara finally looked up to her friends who were all looking at her "What's up?" She asked with a yawn.  
  
Sara hadn't gotten much sleep since Friday. How could she? Every time her body started to relax, her mind would snap awake and the only thing she could think of was Ava.  
  
"Who were _you_  daydreaming about?" Nate asked with a smirk.   
  
Sara looked around at her friends who all had expressions on their faces similar to Nate's.   
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"You're staring off into space and you look like a lovesick puppy, now tell us who the special guy or girl is!" Said Amaya.  
  
Despite her best efforts, Sara blushed "There's no special anyone! You guys are just delusional. " she said, unconvincingly.   
  
"Head down, eyes up, cheeks flushed. You, Sara Lance, have a crush on someone." Said Nate, and in that moment, Sara regretted convincing him to take the 'human behaviour' elective.   
  
Sara calculated that she had about 12 seconds to come up with either an excuse or a plan before she was _completely_ fucked, so she looked at the clock, to her friends, and then back to the clock.   
  
**12:59**.  
  
Sara had a mischievous grin on her face "Okay, you guys can ask me 20 yes or no questions, and if you guess who it is before the bell rings, I have to tell you."  
  
Everyone agreed, but just as Ray was about to ask the first question, the bell rang and everyone in the cafeteria scurried out to make it to their 6th period class.  
  
"Well played." Said Zari, shaking her head "Well played."  
  
Sara was a part of the crowd rushing to 6th period gym, but then she thought about what a golden opportunity this was and stopped dead in her tracks.  
  
"I think I'll take the long way." She said to herself in the crowded hallway.   
  
Just as Sara had planned, when the bell rang to signal the start of 6th period, she was in the middle of the hallway.   
  
Right where she wanted to be.  
  
Because during 6th period, for those of you keeping score, a certain hall monitor could always be found ready to pass out detention slips.  
  
Sara didnt really know what she had planned to do once she _talked_ to Ava, but if they were talking in general, than that was at least a start.  
  
After about 30 seconds of Sara milling about the halls, Ava showed up, just as she had the first time this happened.  
  
Sara grinned seductively as she and the taller woman got closer, but Ava only seemed stone cold.  
  
"You're late for class, Miss Lance." She said with not even a hint of banter in her tone.  
  
Sara was confused "Yeah, I am late for class. Nice observation."  
  
"Sara, I am not fucking around." Ava said sternly.  
  
"Damn, okay then." Said Sara. She was taken aback by the taller woman's newfound bitchiness.  
  
Ava pulled out a pink detention slip from her pocket and started writing on it, avoiding eye contact with Sara at all costs   
  
Sara softened her demeanor and took a few steps closer to Ava "Is this about Friday? Because we don't have to talk about it or anything, but I think we should." She suggested softly.  
  
Ava kept her eyes glued to her paper and shook her head "I have no idea what you're referring to."  
  
Sara nodded "Okay, so that's how we're going to do this?"  
  
Ava stayed silent and looked up to meet Sara's eves.  
  
The shorter woman continued "Well, if you want to stand there and pretend that we _didn't_  make out two days ago and you _didn't_  like it, and we're _not_ friends, then I guess that means you have no romantic feelings for me at all."  
  
Ava raised her eyebrows before turning her attention back to the citation she was writing Sara.  
  
"Okay, cool." She said. She was trying to think about what her next move would be.  
  
Ava finished writing the citation and took a step towards Sara "Detention after school today. I'd give you directions but we both know that you can make it to the detention room in your sleep."  
  
Sara tugged the slip from Ava's hand and gave her a cheeky nod before both of them headed in opposite directions.   
  
Of all the ways Sara had expected this interaction to go, this was not one of them. Who knew Ava would close herself off to all emotion?   
  
But love was a lot like jealousy in the sense that it couldn't be contained. Or at least, it couldn't be contained for _l_ _ong._  
  
That's it!  
  
Sara folded the pink detention slip and put it into the pocket of her jeans.  
  
She had a plan.  
  



	11. Let's Get Down to Businesses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara comes up with a plan of sorts to get Ava out from her state of denial about the kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!! I know it's been a while, and I'm super sorry for leaving you guys hanging for so long, but the good news is that I finally have access to a laptop, so hopefully the next chapter will arrive sooner than the previous two have. That being said, it might take me a bit longer to update the rest of the fic, but we'll see. Thank you all so much for your patience and support!
> 
> Enjoy!

One gym period and the rest of a school day later, it was finally time for play rehearsal.

Sara had fully formed the “grand plan" inside her head, but whether or not it worked depended on one thing: Ava Sharpe’s undying stubbornness. 

It was a fairly good bet, especially since Ava seemed dead-set on pretending the kiss never happened, but still, it was going to be a hard job making sure everything fell into place.

Which is why Sara needed a team, or in this case, the voice of reason.

“You're joking, right? You have to be joking because there's no way… but maybe… holy shit, you're serious.”

Sara had just finished telling Amaya the full story (well, the 4 minute version) and it was a lot of information to process.

“So will you help me?” asked Sara.

“What exactly do you need my help with? If you're planning something like this, shouldn't you ask Zari? Or the guys?”

Sara tilted her head “Do you _really_ think that Zari and the guys would ever let me live this down?”

Amaya chuckled “Do you really think _I'm_ ever going to let you live this down?”

“No, but you're the ‘moral compass’ of our friend group and you'll tell me if this plan is stupid.”

Amaya pondered for a moment “Well, it could definitely work, it's not _super_  stupid, and in theory, nobody would get hurt.”

“So… you're saying it's a good plan?”

“I'm not saying it's a _good_  plan, I'm saying that on a scale from ‘go to bed early’ to ‘the guacamole incident’ this isn't _that_ bad of a plan.”

Sara shrugged “I'll take it.”

Amaya grabbed her backpack and prepared to enter the auditorium “Just one quick question before we go: why do you want to be in a relationship with Ava? I thought you guys hated each other.”

Sara exhaled and thought for a moment before responding “It's complicated. We never _hated_  each other. We were rivals, and I guess the sexual tension just kinda…”

Sara mimicked an explosion with her hands and Amaya nodded. 

“Well,” started Amaya “We should get going. We're late for rehearsal.”

The two women pushed open the double-doors to the auditorium and walked inside. They may have been a few minutes late, but much to their luck, nothing had started yet.

Sara plastered a teasing smile across her face and walked over to her usual rehearsal spot, right next to Ava.

Ava had her eyes glued to her blank notebook.

“Hey.” Sara said casually.

Ava looked up at Sara, let out a fake cough, and then looked back down. Then, she snapped her head back up to look at Sara, a questioning look in her eye.

“Don't you have detention?” Ava asked coldly.

Sara's plan was starting to take shape and she hadn't even had to do anything yet.

“They let me go because of play rehearsal.”

After getting her answer, Ava returned her attention to the notebook on her lap that was still blank.

Gideon walked onto the stage with Gary trailing behind and the chatters of conversation staggered throughout the room slowly turned to silence.

“Hello ladies and gentlemen.” she said, looking out over the cast and crew for the show.

“Today I want to finish painting sets and run through the kiss scene a few times just to make it perfect.”

Ava glanced at Sara before raising her hand “My voice is almost completely gone, can I sit this one out?” she was faking it, but she was doing one hell of a job. Sara had knew Ava was a good actor, but she truly was _good_.

Gideon was quiet for a moment “Okay, not to worry. Gary, will you stand in for the role of Wendy?”

His eyes went wide as snickers arose from the audience. Gary looked at Sara, to the audience, and finally back to Gideon “The show must go on.” he replied seriously. 

“Very well then!” exclaimed Gideon with a smile “Let’s get down to businesses.”

_______________________

After a rousing sing-along to “I'll Make A Man Out of You" from Mulan (you really can't say “let's get down to businesses” around theatre kids), rehearsal was well underway.

The crew members were busy painting sets, and a few actors were running lines offstage, but everyone else was intently watching the stage.

Before the scene started, Sara looked out into the small audience that had gathered. Ava was there, and Sara smiled, amazed that a plan of hers might work out.

Gary looked nervous and his face was as white as a sheet of paper. Sara pulled him aside.

“You good?” she asked.

“Y-yeah, I've just never been much of an _actor_.”

“Cool. Listen, I need you to help me with something.” said Sara, lowering her voice.

“Yeah, sure. Anything! As long as it isn't drugs. Oh god, it's drugs, isn't it? I promised my mom-"

Sara cut him off. “It's not about drugs. The scene we're running today is the kiss scene, and when that scene comes, I need to _kiss_ you. Like, passionately or whatever.”

Gary gulped before answering “Okey-dokey. Why did you ask me first, though?

Sara smiled and shot Gary two finger guns “Consent is everything, kiddo.”

Just then, Gideon spoke up “Alright everyone, quiet on set! Actors, places! Ready, and… go for it!”

Sara did as the script said and took a step closer to “Wendy" who in this case, happened to be Gary.

“I must go, but know that I care for you deeply.” said Sara. She didn't even need to look at the script for this scene. She had stressed about it, reminisced over it, and practiced it so many times, Sara was convinced she could give a Tony worthy performance of this in her sleep.

“I care for you deeply as well, Peter.” said Gary. Delivering the next line. His voice only cracked once. Sara was proud.

Then came the kiss. The part of the scene that the kids watching had been waiting for all rehearsal. 

Sara took a quick glance to the audience where Ava was staring at her from, before grabbing Gary by his shirt collar and pulling him in for a passionate kiss.

Sure, nothing _unscripted_  was happening, but Sara was definitely making the most of what the script _did_  call for.

After the pair finally pulled away from the kiss that lasted just two seconds too long, the audience applauded, and Sara and Gary took their bows.

Ava however, was not interested in staying to watch the next scene. She grabbed her backpack and discreetly but quickly, walked out of the auditorium. 

Sara saw her take off and after she was cleared to go, the shorter woman dashed into the hall.

“Ava.” she called.

“What the _hell_  was that?” asked Ava, turning around without missing a beat.

“What was what?” asked Sara, mimicking Ava’s denial from earlier. 

“Why did you make out with Gary?”

“Okay, if we're being technical here, I didn't _make out_  with him. I just kissed him passionately like it says to do in the script.” Sara said in a matter-of-fact tone that made Ava want to shut her up.

“Well why did you kiss him passionately? You could have gotten away with a peck and you know it. Do you have feelings for Gary or something now?”

“Why do you care?”

“I don't.” Ava lied.

“Bullshit. You're jealous. Admit it, Sharpe.”

Ava scoffed “As if. 

“So you mean to tell me that you were perfectly fine with seeing me kiss _Gary_  the same way you kissed me, and you left the auditorium for a completely reason?”

Ava paused and looked as if she was thinking of a witty retort, before she simply replied “Yes.”

Sara matched Ava’s glare before turning around “Whatever, I'm going back in.” 

She took a few steps toward the door before pausing “Jealous.” she mumbled under her breath.

“Moron.” replied Ava, refusing to let the infuriating shorter blonde have the last word.

Sara turned around to face Ava “Preppy.”

Ava took a few steps closer to Sara. Both women knew that this had turned into a standoff, and neither knew how it would end, but only one thing was important at the moment and that was getting the last word.

“Smug.”

“Asshole.”

“Arrogant.”

“In denial.”

“Bad kisser.”

Sara raised her index finger to point at Ava “So you admit we kissed?”

“And you're not denying that you were bad?”

“I won't deny it, but I disagree that I was bad.” Sara said smugly “Can I have a re-do?”

Ava didn't know how to respond to that so she carried on with the insult battle in hopes of diverting attention from her quickly reddening face. “Reckless.”

“Uptight.”

“Do you just have like, a list of insults for me?” asked Ava. It was sort of meant as an insult, but it came off as more of a bantery joke.

Sara let out a small laugh “Yeah, I do. It’s all up here.” she said, pointing to her head.

Ava laughed at that and while the taller woman was distracted, Sara took this as an opportunity to continue the back-and-forth, but in a lighter way this time. “Nerd.”

“Jerk.”

“...Nerd.”

“Are you running out of ideas Miss Lance?” Asked Ava, her words accompanied by an eyebrow raise.

Sara ignored her “Uptight.”

“You already used that one.”

“Yeah? Well, maybe it’s hard to insult you.” she said.

“Since when?”   


“Since… you became… annoying!”

“Tiny.” said Ava, without missing a beat.

Sara scoffed in mock offense “Tiny? I’m 5’6.”

Ava shrugged “Tiny.” she repeated.

“Well, you’re a… tall… person.” replied Sara.

“Tall person? Wow, Sara. You crossed a line there. I truly cannot believe that you would say something like that.” said Ava. She was trying to look serious but she couldn’t stop smiling at Sara.

“Shut up.”

Ava’s eyes flickered down to Sara’s lips for a brief moment “Make me.” She said, in almost a whisper.

Sara slowly took a step forward, placed her hand on the back of Ava’s neck and pulled her in for a soft kiss. Their lips brushed and it only lasted a few seconds before Ava pulled away. Sara stood still, a worried look in her eyes, she was terrified at the possibility that she made the wrong move and fucked things up… again.

Ava just giggled and pointed at Sara’s feet. The shorter blonde was on her tiptoes.

“You have to stand on your tiptoes to kiss me. I stand corrected, Sara. You’re not tiny, you’re _cute_.”

“Take that back.”

Ava shook her head.

“You’re a jerk, you know that?.”

The pair kissed again, but deeper this time. Sara moved her hands onto Ava’s hips and Ava cupped her face. This kiss lasted longer and the two women lost track of time until the auditorium door flew open and they quickly broke away from one another and turned their heads to where the noise had come from.

“Wow, you two look busy.” Sara Amaya with a smile.

“What’s up?” aksed Sara, not sure whether or not she wanted to play it cool in front of her friend.

“I just wanted to let you guys know that rehearsal ends in like four minutes and a sea of people are about to come rushing out, so you two _lovebirds_  have about three minutes to finish up whatever’s going on here.” said Amaya, arching an eyebrow.

“Funny.” said Sara sarcastically “But thanks for the warning, I owe you.”

“It’s no problem. I’ll leave you guys to it.” she said, prompting Sara to playfully throw an eraser at her.

Once Amaya closed the doors, Sara turned back to Ava.”I want to kiss you again, but I don’t need the entire cast of our school play to be all up in our business.”

Ava nodded “I agree.” she looked up at the analog clock in the hallway. “Wow, we spent 35 minutes out here.”

“To be fair, we were arguing for like, 20 of those minutes.”

“Yeah.” said Ava.

“I'm surprised Gideon didn't come out and get us. We practically ditched rehearsal.”

“Well, there's a window backstage that shows out into the hall, but even if there wasn't I'm pretty sure she had a good idea of what was happening here.”

Sara let out a soft laugh “Yeah, probably.”

There was a silence between the two of them and Ava started pacing. “So…” she started, looking back up at Sara “You want to go out sometime, jerk?”

Sara couldn’t help the wide smile that was rapidly growing across her face “Pick me up at seven, jerk.” She said with a wink.

  
  
  



	12. The Calm Before The Misunderstanding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sara and Ava try and keep their relationship a secret while Zari tries to figure out what's going on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! This chapter marks a bit of a turning point in the story that I think you guys are going to enjoy reading. It's kind of like the beginning of the "second act" of this fic.
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are greatly appreciated! You guys are seriously the best :)
> 
> Enjoy!

On Tuesday morning, Sara was at her locker, gathering her second period supplies, when she felt a pair of arms wrap around her body and hug her from behind. Sara smiled and melted into the touch.

The blonde had never really experienced any type of public affection before. The last real partner she had was her boyfriend in second grade, and everyone after that had either been an unlabeled “thing” or a short-lived fling.

Which is why it was nice and comforting to be hugged in the middle of the crowded hall “just because.”

Ava and Sara had gone out for dinner on Monday night and they decided that they wanted to be a couple. They also decided that it was best if they kept their relationship quiet, at least for now, which meant that until further notice, they were still rivals, at least to the public eye.

“Hey.” said Sara, turning around to greet Ava with a soft kiss on the cheek.”What brings you here this fine Tuesday morning?”

“I just wanted to remind you that we have play rehearsal today.” Ava said with a smile.

“Ahh, I see. So this had nothing to do with you wanting to see _me_ , and you came to my locker for a completely justified and professional reason.”

Ava giggled “That’s correct.”

Sara playfully punched the taller woman in the shoulder and headed off to class with a spring in her step and an unbreakable smile on her face.

________________________

“Has Sara been acting weird lately?” Zari asked Amaya.  
The two of them had gym together and Zari was using the weekly mile run as an opportunity to use her investigation skills and get to the bottom of her friend’s odd behavior.

“Weird? What do you mean?” asked Amaya. Though, she never explicitly promised Sara that she'd keep her relationship with Ava a secret, Amaya wasn't about to say anything that might screw her friend's relationship up.

“She seems really happy, she keeps talking about how much she loves the play, and she hasn't complained about Ava for _days_.”

“Maybe she's just excited about the play.” said Amaya, picking up her pace from a jog to a run.

Zari caught up with her “I don't think that's it.” she paused to catch her breath “I think Ava's manipulating her. Or maybe the two of them cut some sort of shady deal.”

“I don't think there's anything shady going on. It's probably nothing.”

“Regardless, I have a media studies presentation due on Friday and I need something to procrastinate with, so I'm getting to the bottom of this.” Zari took another moment to catch her breath (she wasn't much of a runner) “You in?”

“It's none of my business, so no.” said Amaya, taking off into a sprint and leaving Zari in the dust.

Zari watched as her friend soared down the track in a seemingly effortless fashion, her dark brown ponytail bobbing in the wind.

“Damn.” she said to herself before reverting back to her usual power walk around the grassy field.

She had an investigation to formulate.

_____________________

There was only one class that all of the Legends had together, and that was 3rd period biology.

It was honestly some sort of miracle that they all ended up in the same class, but it was an even bigger miracle that they managed to /not/ get separated. However, they /were/ all seated as far away from each other as they could possibly be, which was fair.

Much to the luck of Zari, Ava was also in their bio class, and today there were new seats which meant anything could happen.

As students filed into the classroom, one by one they glanced at the new seating chart that had been projected onto the board.

Sara couldn't help but laugh when she saw that she had been placed next to Ava. A week ago, she would have been annoyed at the prospect of sharing a desk space with her, but now she could only smile at how everything worked out and the irony of it all.

Sara was already seated by the time Ava saw the board. She sauntered over to the shared desk space and smiled at Sara.

“It looks like you finally misbehaved enough for them to put you next to the poster child of good behavior.”

“Honestly I'm surprised it took so long.” Sara said with a shrug. “And don't flatter yourself, I know for a fact that you ditched play rehearsal to make out with some random troublemaker in the hallway the other day.”

Ava scoffed in mock offense before continuing the playful banter “I'll have you know that I wasn't making out with some random troublemaker, I was making out with my _girlfriend_.”

Sara's heart started racing and as hard as she was trying to keep her cool, however, her face muscles betrayed her and she began smiling like a lovesick idiot (which she was, for the record).

“My mistake.” said Sara, struggling to get through the two-word sentence without giggling like the puddle of happiness that she was on the inside.

The bell rang and the lesson started. About 10 minutes into class, Sara reached for Ava's hand under the desk and intertwined their fingers.

She could get used to this whole “PDA thing"

____________________

Class ended and Zari had only gotten more questions, and not a single answer.

This was no longer about trying to find some secret conspiracy, this was about trying to figure out what the fuck was going on.

She was about to just give it a rest and head to her next class when she heard someone trip behind her.

Zari turned around to see Gary Green, picking himself up off the tile floor and walking over to Ava, who pulled him into a side hug.

“How is the plan with Sara going?”

“It went well.” said Ava with a smile “Thanks for the tip.”

“Any time.” he said before walking away and disappearing into a classroom.

Zari took a pen out of her back pocket and started clicking it while thoughts raced through her head. She had a lead.


	13. The Scottish Play

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Legends' plan to protect Sara starts to form, and Nate says one word that could ruin everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I hope you're all enjoying the fic so far. I have to leave with no internet for a week starting Sunday, but I'll try and get another chapter out by then :)
> 
> Thank y'all so much for leaving kudos commenting. You're all truly the sweetest.
> 
> Enjoy!

Nate was walking to study hall when he felt a hand grab the sleeve of his shirt and tug him into the stairwell.

“What the hell, Zari!”

“Sara's in trouble.”

“Really? You nearly yanked my sleeve off for /that/?” he asked “Look, I know you're sort of new here, but Sara gets in trouble like, once a week. She'll be fine.” 

“No, not like that, I mean she's in _danger_.”

“I wouldn't worry about that, when Sara and I were in 6th grade, she stabbed a kid with a pencil because he insisted she couldn't hurt him. Man, you should have _seen_  the look on his face-"

Zari cut him off “I overheard Ava talking to Gary and they have some sort of plan in the works. I think Ava's trying to get Sara to give her information by getting on her good side.”

Nate nodded, a serious expression crossing his face “Like in _Legally Blonde_  when Elle got Brooke to reveal her alibi by bringing up her butt workout!”

“Sure, whatever makes sense to you. I just don't want her to get blackmailed or something because Ava could single-handedly screw all of us over if she gets enough information”

“Ray and I have study hall together. I can talk to him about it.”

“Thanks.” said Zari. “We’ll get to the bottom of this.”

_____________________

Sara's eyes widened “No way, really?” 

Ava nodded “Yep. And I guess he was right, too.”

Sara and Ava were walking to play rehearsal together and talking about their date a few days ago, reminiscing about the amazing night out and moving closer to each other with each step.

“So you mean to tell me that _Gary_  helped you plan the date?”

“One-hundred percent.”

Sara was in awe, not fully able to process this information.

“He even gave me the tip about you preferring tulips to roses, which is cute by the way.” Ava added.

“Well I hope you got the chance to thank him for everything.”

“Yeah, I ran i to him after third period.”

The couple approached the auditorium and shared a knowing look before reluctantly untangling their hands and opening the double-doors.

Right when they walked in, they found themselves standing in the middle of one of Nate and Ray's trivia games.

Ray flipped one of the question cards and started reading it aloud to the group “What Shakespearean tragedy, first preformed in 1606, dramatizes the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those who seek power for its own sake?”

Nate shot up from where he was sitting “Macbeth!” he screamed.

All conversation in the room screeched to a halt and the only audible sound was a series of appalled gasps as Nate was met with a series of glarrs and looks of astonishment from the theatre kids surrounding him.

“What?” he asked “I just said-"

“Don’t!” Ava cut him off “Saying the name of… _that_  play in a theatre before a show makes us all victims of what actors call the Scottish curse, which means there's bound to be a disaster at some point!” she whisper-shouted.

“Ohh.” said Nate. An angry crowd was still staring at him “My bad.”

Nate sat back down and slowly, the conservation started back up again.

Ava and Sara detached themselves from the group and walked over to their usual seats.

“Do you think what Nate said will ruin  _ everything _ _?”_ Sara asked in a sarcastically overdramatic fashion.

“I would have two weeks ago, but now, I doubt some silly superstition could mess up what we've been working on.”

“I agree. Even if something does go wrong, It'll be strictly because my friends did something on _purpose_. We don't need a curse to shake things up.” Sara said with a wink.

“They aren't planning anything, right?”

Sara thought about it “Not that I know of. I don't think they would mess with something as big as this, but you never know.”

Ava took a deep breath “You know what, I'll take it.”

“Should we tell them? You know, about _us?”_ asked Sara “Because if you don't want to, that's totally cool, I guess I wanted to tell them, but only of you want to.” she stammered.

Sara had only been in a relationship with Ava for a few days and she was terrified of saying the wrong thing and going back to being on bad terms with Ava.

“We can tell them whenever you want to.” said Ava “I was thinking we could announce it publicly after the play, but that's a few weeks from now, so we can tell them today if you want to.”

“No, we should wait. The cast party is the perfect opportunity to tell everyone, and besides, it's been fun having this just be _ours_  and part of me wants to hold onto that a bit longer before _everyone_  knows.” she said, resting her head on Ava's shoulder.

Ava nodded “I know exaxtly what you mean.”

Sara slowly moved her hand into Ava's and the two intertwined their fingers. She thought about all the petty arguments and fights she and Ava had gotten into over the years and wanted to do something to make it up to her.

After some thinking, Sara had an idea.

________________________

“So what do we do?” asked Ray.

Zari had briefed him and Nate on the situation with Ava and Sara.

“I don't know.” Nate replied honestly.

“We could confront Ava about it.” suggested Ray.

“She’d just deny it.” said Zari.

“What could she be planning" asked Nate.

“I don't know, but depending on what Sara tells her, she could use her authority and get us all landed in detention for life… or at least, until graduation.” explained Zari.

Nate began to pace “Why don't we ask Amaya? She'll know what to do.”

Ray shook his head “She's been practicing her lines nonstop for the past week. I'd bet you anything she's too busy. Besides, Amaya's the voice of reason and she’d try to talk us out of doing anything at all.”

Zari nodded “Exactly. Maybe we could prank Ava and put an end to all of this.”

“I'm always up for a friendly prank, as long as nothing is severely damaged and nobody is injured!” chimed Ray.

“Then it's settled.” said Nate “Tomorrow, we get to school early and teach Ava a lesson about trying to mess with one of our own.”

The trio shared a group fist-bump and the plan was set, and once a plan is set, there’s no turning back.


	14. Somewhere Along in the Bitterness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two plans, Ava's locker, and one huge-ass misunderstanding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Thank you all so much for reading and commenting on this story. It means a lot and you all are truly one of the reasons I love to write as much as I do.
> 
> This chapter is a tad angsty whoops.
> 
> Enjoy!

For the first time in years, Sara was excited to get to school early.

She had never been much of a morning person, especially on school days, but she was planning to do something special for Ava, and was thrilled when the rest of the Legends happily agreed to let her pick them up early to drive to school.

"You four seem awfuly happy to get to school 30 minutes before first period." Amaya remarked, sliding into the passengers seat and buckling her seatbelt.

Ray tossed her a bottled iced coffee which she easily caught "Us? We're just caffinated. Sara's the one who insisted on picking us all up this early."

Amaya glanced at Sara who was intently staring at the road, trying to hide the smile growing on her face.

"Is that so..." she said, about to ask a follow-up when Sara interrupted.

"Thanks again for letting me drag you all along. What are you guys going to do for a half an hour before class?" She asked, changing the subject.

"Justice." replied Zari.

"Not sure that's a verb, but then again, I have a B-minus in english." Sara pulled into the nearly-empty school parking lot and looked up at the sky that was still tinted purple from the sunrise.

"You can do this, Lance." She whispered to herself.

______________________________

 

As soon as she was let into the building, Sara made a beeline to Ava’s locker, zigzagging thorough the handful of kids that had shown up as early as she and her friends.

Sara let her mind go into “autopilot”, putting little thought into where her feet were taking her. 

Due to years and years of pranks she and the legends had pulled, she knew the way to Ava’s locker by heart, and the combonation had become one of those things she could recite on command, like her phone number or the entire first half of _Frozen_  (In her defense, Sara had babysat a mob of 7 year-old girls a few summers ago, and was forced to watch the movie 36 times. She counted.)

Once she approached the locker, she took a quick glance around the hall just to make sure she wasn’t being watched by anyone.

The crowd around her was mostly kids working to finish a week’s worth of homework in 30 minutes, AV club members getting ready for the school news broadcast, and a handful of students studying for the rumored pop quiz in history. The big crowds of kids wouldn’t start to filter in for at least another ten minutes.

Once Sara determined the coast was clear, she took a deep breath and reached into the shoebox she had carefully placed in her backpack.

She had been putting stuff into Ava’s locker for years, but this time it wasn’t fake cocaine, or a cracked raw egg, or even one of Mick’s soggy gym shoes.

This time it was different.

This time, it was special.

_________________________________

Nate ran his fingers through his hair, trying to smooth out his bed-head “So what exactly are we trying to accomplish here?”

“Ava’s trying to mentally mess with Sara, so we need to get in there and teach her a lesson about messing with a Legend before she screws us all over.” Zari answered, and despite her yawn, she was dead-set on getting this done.

The guys decided that it was too early to try and talk her out of this, especially because Zari could be stubborn when she felt she was doing the right thing.

As a group, they power-walked down the near-empty hallways, only making one wrong turn and ending up in the cafeteria.

When they finally got to their destination, Zari turned the corner and came to a halt when she saw Sara, 15 feet away, at Ava’s locker.

She nudged the guys back around the corner and explained the situation. 

  
“Sara’s already there.”

“What do you mean?” asked Ray.

“I /mean/, Sara is at the locker and we can’t go down there until she leaves.”

The group leaned against the wall and slid down together so they were all leaning against it.

Thankfully, it didn’t take long before Sara walked over and nearly jumped when she saw them.

“Hey, guys, what’s up?” 

Nate stood up “Not much. Why were you down by Ava’s locker.”

“She uh, we were practicing for the thing and she left her textbook at my house.”

Sara prayed that her friends hadn’t noticed her burning red cheeks and lightining-fast heart rate.

“Cool.” said Ray “Sounds good.”

Sara nodded at her friends and was about to say something else, when she decided she should quit while she was ahead and not dig herself into an even deeper hole, so instead she gave a quick wave goodbye and went on to walk circles around the school until Ava arrived.

“So, what’s the plan, boss?” asked Ray. “Fake drugs, spiders, the gym shoes from hell?”

“Something better,” replied Zari “or worse. I don’t know how to phrase that, but the point is, anyone that tries to mess with Sara deserves something big.”

Ray handed Zari her backpack “Show us what you’ve got.”

_________________________________

“Okay, but do I wait by her locker when she opens it or do I wait until I see her in first period english?”

Sara was in the girls locker room, nearly banging her head against the walls. She was filled with nervousness and excitement and needed someone to rant to before she started giddily screaming from the rooftops.

“Wait until you see her in first period. Then you can be all coy and charming about it and you won’t have to risk having people see the two of you having a Notebook-style makeout session in the halls once she sees the thing.” said Amaya, pulling her navy blue sneakers out of her locker and sliding off her sandals.

“I’m so excited.” 

“You’ve mentioned. Like, 73 times.”

Sara threw one of Amaya’s socks at her “Fair, but my point stands.”

Amaya smiled and looked up at the clock “You should probably start heading to class. First period starts in five minutes, and don't you have english upstairs and on the other side of the building?"

“I do, but I’ll wait another minute or two. I need to run there if I want to have any chance of burning this energy… Hey, don’t you and Zari have gym together?”   


Amaya looked around the locker room for her friend “Yeah, we do. She must be working on something.”

Sara shrugged and was going to say something else when one of the gym teachers stood up on a bench and yelled at all of the lingering students to get to class.

Sara slung her bag over her shoulder. “I guess that’s my cue to leave. See you in bio.”

“Bye. Go get her, Sara!”

________________________

The echo of the first period bell rang throughout the halls and classrooms of Star City High School and Sara started to anxiously tap her pencil on her desk.

Ava was late.

Ava was never late, but today she was and Sara was freaking out.

Her mind was running a mile a minute as thoughts bounced around. 

_What if something happened? What if she's in trouble? What if she's avoiding me? What if she's absent?_

Her thoughts came to a halt when Ava stumbled through the front foor, and Sara was incredibly grateful that their english teacher had a loose tardy policy.

She quickly flashed the taller woman a charming smile, but furrowed her brow in confusion when Ava trudged over with an angry, almost hurt, expression clouding her face.

“Hey. Aves, what's up?” asked Sara. She gave the stoic woman standing before her a once-over and noticed some kind of red sludge staining her black sweater

“...And why do you smell like salsa?” Sara continued, still puzzled.

Ava just shook her head “Fuck you.” she choked out before turning away and finding a seat on the other side of the classroom.

Sara could feel her heart dropping and she slowly sunk down in her chair, her eyes locked on the wall in front of her.

She couldn't even hear whatever the lesson was, other than the faint noise of her teacher asking “Any questions?” after finishing a presentation.

Sara had quite a few questions on her mind, but the one she kept asking herself over and over wasn't exactly one she could ask in front of her entire class.

_Where did I go wrong?_


	15. But Whatever Happens, I Know I've Got You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ava's heartbroken, Sara's a mess, Amaya's confused, and in that moment, Zari knew she fucked up. Everything slowly starts to come out in the open and it's up to Amaya to fix everything- fast.
> 
> Aka, your regularly scheduled angst with a side-order of Amari!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey wonderful humans! I'm super sorry for not updating for a while, time definitely escaped me, but I'm back and if you follow me on twitter, you know I've been working on something ;)
> 
> You guys are all the sweetest. Your comments and support are what make me love what I do so... *gives out a big hug to all of y'all*
> 
> That being said, enjoy!

Sara couldn't think. It felt like she was staring at a giant brick wall, and if she tried to look away, for even a second, all of the pain would seep in from around her.

So she decided it was easier to stare at her mental brick wall and not focus on anyone or anything else until she was somewhere she could fall apart.

Her first two classes of the day went by like they were a dream and finally it was time for third period biology.

This was the one class Sara had with everyone and it was the only class where she sat directly next to Ava.

And to think, just this morning, Sara had been excited to come to class.

She may not have been sure what was going on, but there was one thing she was sure of: There was no avoiding 3rd period biology.

_________________________   
  


“I wonder what Sara put in Ava’s locker.” Amaya wondered aloud to herself. She and Zari were walking from gym to biology.

“What do you mean?” Asked Zari, a confused expression forming on her face.

Amaya snapped out of her thoughts and turned to Zari “Shit, I forgot you didn’t know.”

“Know what?”

“Well, I think we both know that if I refuse to tell you you’ll find out anyway, so here we go. Sara and Ava have been secretly dating for like a week. I caught them making out in the hall one day during play rehearsal.”

It took Zari everything she had not to stop dead in the middle of the hallway, but she tensed up and felt her heartbeat quicken as she slowly realized how much of an idiot she was and how big of a mistake she had made.

Amaya looked over to her and saw that Zari’s face was nearly as white as a sheet “You okay?” she asked, placing a concerned hand on her friend’s shoulder.

“Fuck.”

“What?” asked Amaya, pulling Zari aside from the stampede of students heading to class.

“I’m _such_  a fucking idiot.” she said, looking up to face Amaya, the look of concern in her friend’s eyes making her want to melt.

“Oh no Z, what did you do?”

“So you know how Ava and Sara have hated each other forever and Ava’s been trying to get us all suspended or whatever since day one?”

“...Yeah.” said Amaya, not entirely following.

Zari started talking faster “Well, I saw that she and Sara were getting closer and then I heard her say something to Gary about a plan and Sara was _clearly_  fucking oblivious to whatever was going on and I just assumed that Ava was plotting to screw us over and I didn’t want Sara to get hurt so me and the guys may or may not have filled her locker with salsa and fake cocaine aka baby powder.” She managed to explain everything in one breath and was staring at Amaya, trying to gauge exactly _how_  badly she had screwed up based on her friend’s reaction.

“Oh, Z.” she said after a moment. “I don’t know what to do about this one.” 

Amaya had always been the responsible one. She had always been the one to step in when a prank would result in _real_  trouble, she was always the one to make sure everyone was okay, and she had a unique ability to think things through rationally and come up with a plan to make everything okay.

Zari was beyond grateful when she saw the gears turning in Amaya’s head because she knew she was trying to make this right.

“Okay, so we don’t know for _sure_  that you fucked with their relationship, so the best case scenario is Ava just assumed that Mick and Nate were messing with her and ignored the whole thing.”

Zari nodded and Amaya continued “But that’s just the _best_  case scenario. Now, I’m not a detective or anything, but what probably happened was Ava got salsa’d, she assumed that Sara was behind it, and is either passive-aggressively ignoring her or they got into a fight.”

“Fuck.” Zari said again, as it was the only word that could accurately describe everything she was feeling. “I have to tell her.”

“Yeah, no shit, of course you have to tell her.” said Amaya. She looked up at the hall clock and then around her. The hallways were nearly empty.

“We have to get to class, and we’ll see what’s going on once we get there, but we need to do something. It might be hard, but we can work this out.”

Zari nodded and pulled Amaya into a hug “Thank you. For this. I know I messed up, but you're honestly the only person who could stop me from having a mental breakdown and running away to live under a rock for the rest of my life.”

Amaya chuckled softly “It was no problem. We'll figure this out, ‘kay?”

Zari nodded and they ran to class.

After a few seconds of quiet, Amaya spoke again “You know, I really need to start being meaner. I have my costume-fitting for the Captain Hook suit today, I need to be in _character_.” she joked.

Zari just nodded and at the thought of Amaya in the pirate outfit returned all colour to her cheeks. She ducked her head down as the two of them slid into the biology lab, the tardy bell chiming through the empty hallway behind them.

______________________

Sara sat calmly at her lab table, unaware of whether or not she wanted Ava to sit next to her.

She had been making something of a mental pros and cons list while she waited.

_Pro: I'd have to talk to Ava. Con: ...I'd have to talk to Ava-_

Her thoughts came to a halt when she heard a binder hit the other side of the table, and she looked up to see Ava taking her seat.

They made eye contact, Sara was confused, and Ava looked hurt. 

The shorter woman opened her mouth to say something, but closed it and instead looked ahead.

She decided that it would be better for both of them if they only talked when they had to.

Sara was glad when her phone chimed because it gave her an excuse to escape the bubble of awkwardness surrounding her.

It was an email to the entire Peter Pan cast. Nothing huge, just a last-minute rehearsal cancellation due to a “scheduling conflict" with the band concert.

It was a relief to Sara, who hadn't even been thinking about play rehearsal. She wasn't sure what she needed, but right now she needed time to sort everything out and the rehearsal cancellation was a blessing in disguise. Sara smiled to herself, remembering what she and her friends had talked about during the first play rehearsal. Maybe Gideon really _did_  have eyes everywhere.

Sara looked next to her and saw Ava looking at her own phone, probably reading the email. 

She then gazed around the room to see if Amaya had filed in yet. She hadn't. 

Sara pulled her cell back out of her pocket and sent a text to her absent friend.

_“Hey. Some crazy shit's happened this morning and I need to talk to you. Just you. Can you meet me in the library after school? Play rehearsal was cancelled btw.”_

Just as she had hit send, Amaya and Zari slid through the classroom door, both of them eyeing Sara concerningly, before their teacher shooed the pair off to their desks.

Sara put her phone away and the gravity of the whole situation started to hit her again.

For the remainder of class, she kept her eyes locked on either the teacher or her bio textbook, not once daring to look at the women next to her.

At some point during the lesson, Amaya pulled her phone out of her pencil case and rested it in her lap so she could view her texts without getting her cell confiscated. 

She read the message from Sara, then the one about play rehearsal.

Amaya discreetly typed out a response to Sara and hit send.

_"Yikes. I think I know what this is about, though. Is it cool if I bring the rest of the gang? Or at least Z? Trust me."_

A few moments later, Sara pulled out her phone, turned back to Amaya, and nodded.

Amaya then took a screenshot of Sara's text and sent it to Zari with the caption. 

_”Library, after school. Be there plz"_

Her thumb hovered over the “Send" button as she contemplated adding a heart emoji (for emotional support purposes, obviously) but decided against it.

She saw Zari type out a response and send it, but before Amaya could read it, her bio teacher was standing above her.

“Miss Jiwe, are you texting in my class?” he asked.

There was a chorus of “oooOoOooooOOOooh"s around her, mostly from the Legends’ guys and she made a mental note to flip them off once she was no longer supervised. 

“I, uh, yeah.” she responded, giving up her phone in an attempt to avoid the dreaded teacher move of ‘read-all-recent-texts-out-loud-to-the-class’.

The teacher looked at the phone, than back to Amaya, before finally speaking.

“Miss Jiwe, you can pick this up at the end of the day.” he said, slipping the device into his pocket and resuming class.

Amaya sank down in her seat and breathed a sigh of relief, before thinking once again. It was up to her to make things right again, and she had until the end of the day.

4 hours, 32 minutes, and 14 seconds. 

Thirteen seconds.

Twelve.

Eleven.

Ten.


	16. Coming Clean

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everything comes out into the open, Zari finally makes a good decision, and everyone realizes how painful irony can be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! I upped the number of chapters because I thought of a different way to add to the story and make things come full circle, so I'm happy to inform that the story isn't over just yet!
> 
> As always, comments and kudos are appreciated. You guys are actually the best :)
> 
> Enjoy!

Amaya arrived to the library right after school, just like she and Sara ahd planned, she was dragging a slightly-reluctant Zari by the hand and after only a few seconds of looking around, they spotted Sara at the small coffee place within the library.

The couple walked over to Sara who had just picked up her drink from the counter. It was a frozen coffee drink that was loaded with chocolate flavouring and topped with a load of whipped cream and various chocolate sauces.

“Hey Sara.” said Amaya, greeting her friend with a tight and comforting hug “You want some coffee with that whipped cream?” she asked jokingly, getting Sara to crack a smile.

Zari added on “Yeah Sar, I didn’t know you could  _ drink _ a chocolate factory.”

“Hey, lay off,” Sara said with a laugh “I’ve had a shit day and that means I’m legally obligated to drown my sorrows in a grande-sized sugar rush waiting to happen. It’s the  _ rules _ .” the group shared a laugh before the room went quiet and all that could be heard was the standard background noises of shuffling students, light chatter, and the whir of the blender.

“We should all go somewhere more private to talk.” said Sara, nodding toward the aisles of books.

Zari nodded in agreement “I know just the place.”

It only took a few minutes of weaving through shelves and students for Zari to lead the trio behind a row of bookshelves towards the back of the library, a silent and isolated nook.

“Why are we in the ‘books on tape’ section?” asked Sara, looking around.

“Because nobody goes into this section unless they’re either over the age of 50 or doing a research project on the 1990s.” explained Zari, gesturing to the dusty shelves around them to emphasize her point.

“Fair.” said Sara, taking off the lid of her drink so she could lick all of the whipped cream off before it deflated and dissolved in with the rest of her chocolate-filled beverage.

Amaya looked at Zari and then to Sara before asking “What’s up?”

Sara took a deep breath “God, I don’t even know. I guess it all started this morning? I dragged you all to school twenty minutes early because I had a thing to give Ava,” she turned to Zari “oh, and Ava and I are dating. Well, no, wait. Ava and I…” she trailed off not knowing how to word her statement.

“I get what you mean, carry on.” said Zari.

“Well, I wanted to do something cute to show her how much I care about her and kind of apologize for being an ass to her since we’ve met, so I took all of the detention slips she ever gave me and made them into a bunch of paper cranes, and I know it’s really fucking cheesy but I also put in a mini-bouquet of lilies and a letter, because everyone knows what lilies mean-”

Amaya and Zari cut her off by saying “The lily means, I dare you to love me.” 

Sara cracked a smile at the way the two women looked at each other surprisedly after quoting the same movie in unison.

She continued “Yeah, so I gave her that and I also wrote a letter and I was a giddy little shit for the rest of the morning and I went to class to wait for Ava…” Sara slowed down. As the story caught up to her, so did her emotions “But she was late. I remember she was late and she’s never late. When she finally came in, she sort of walked over, and I turned around because I was so excited to see her but she looked  _ pissed _ . Well, not pissed, but upset. Like really upset. So I was confused and then she walked over to me and she smelled like Chipotle, and then she told me to fuck off.”

After she finished the most painful part of her story, Sara blinked back a wave of tears and took a long sip of her Frappuccino in an attempt to pull herself together.

“I don’t know, I just wanted to put something in her locker and show her that I was done with all the stupid pranks and shit, you know? I don’t know what went wrong.”   


“Irony’s a  _ bitch _ .” Zari looked down and Amaya elbowed her in the ribs.

“Sara, I know what happened, but before I start this story, know that I’m so fucking sorry and I’m an idiot, okay?” asked Zari, beginning to pace as she looked at Sara who only nodded. 

“Okay, so all anyone’s ever told me about Ava is that she’s always trying to get you and the Legends suspended for… well, for everything, and you didn’t seem too thrilled to be getting that role, you even had me sabotage the kissing thing, so when she started being all nice to you all of a sudden, I thought it was a trap. Ava’s in my calculus class, and she’s kind of a fucking genius, so I thought she had some sort of evil scheme going on like in  _ Mean Girls _ when Lindsay Lohan becomes friends with the popular white people and gives the bitchy one fake diet bars to make her gain weight.”

Zari took a pause to take a few deep breaths. She had managed to get the first part of her story out in one go, and accidentally forgot to breathe.

During the interlude, Amaya piped up “Wait, I thought you’d never seen  _ Mean Girls _ . Isn’t it on the list for movie night next Tuesday?”   


“Nate and Ray got into an argument about the plot structure a few days ago at lunch.” Zari explained between sips from her water bottle.

“Wait, so you’re comparing me to Regina George?” asked Sara, smirking at her friend’s lack of pop-culture knowledge.

“Not the point. We- no,  _ I _ \- thought that Ava was trying to do that to you. I thought she was trying to get on your good side only to turn on you and make life hell for all of us, but you seemed to be falling for it, You even said for us not to let you fall in love with her, so… I don’t know I wasn’t thinking. And then one day I heard Ava and Gary talk about having some kind of plan, and I took that as evidence that I was right, so I got the guys on board and this morning we filled Ava’s locker with salsa and fake cocaine.” 

After she was done confessing her mistake, Zari looked down at her feet for a long moment, trying to steady her heartbeat by analyzing the doodles on her black and white Converse. When she finally looked up, she saw Sara’s blank and stunned expression. Part of her wanted to run away, but instead her feet stayed where they were and words started spilling out of her mouth again.

“Sara, I’m so sorry. I was an idiot in so many ways and I really should have done everything differently. I promise I’ll do everything I can to make this right, but if you want me to get out of your life I can do that. And don’t blame any of the guys, it wasn’t their fault. This one was all me.”

Sara just stood silently, trying to process what she just heard. She let out a half-huff half-sigh and slid down to the floor where she sat leaning against a shelf full of British mysteries on tape.

Amaya and Zari sank down to the blue carpet to join her.

“Sar, what are you thinking?” asked Amaya, gently placing a hand on Sara’s knee “Are you mad?”

“No?” said Sara, unsurely. She was surprised by her answer, but not as surprised as Amaya and Zari were. “God, that was the stupidest thing anyone’s ever done for me but it’s also kind of the sweetest thing anyone’s ever done for me. I’ve never had anyone cover someone in Mexican food for me.” She said, her voice cracking.

Zari breathed out a sigh of relief and the knot that had been tightly twisted in her stomach all day started to loosen. “Thanks.”

“You’re a dumbass, Tomaz, but you’re a loyal dumbass and when all is said and done, what even  _ is _ this friend group if not a bunch of loyal dumbasses?”

Amaya nodded “How are you feeling, though? There’s no way the Sara Lance I know is just  _ okay _   with all of this.”

Sara licked a rogue drip of chocolate sauce off the side of her cup and nodded “I’m not. It still hurts and I’m really upset that everything happened and I’m mad at  _ myself  _ for not talking to any of you guys, and I’m heartbroken, but I’m not really mad  _ at _ anyone. Ava and I were so similar. I just feel like a loser right now.”

“Well, what are we going to do?” asked Zari “I need to help you. Do you want me to explain everything to Ava, or-” 

Sara shook her head “No. Ava’s arguably even more stubborn than I am. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I really just need a win here… and maybe some Mexican food. Do any of you guys want chips and guac?” 

Amaya’s eyes lit up as she abruptly stood “Chips and guac! That’s it! You and Ava are practically the same person, but she’s passionate about the rules and you’re passionate about bending them.”

“What does this have to do with guacamole?”

“I’m getting to that. You said you needed a win and I’d be willing to bet my entire college fund that she needs one too.”

Sara’s eyes clicked as she made the connection “You don’t mean…”

“If it was somewhat organized it could work. Call me crazy but it seems like a pretty good idea. We all get to blow off some steam, have some fun, and if everything backfires and goes to shit, Ava still wins.”

“Yeah, sorry, hi, I’m confused.” said Zari.

Amaya and Sara turned to her, eyes wide.

Sara placed a hand on her shoulder “Have we ever told you about a little event that we like to call ‘The Guacamole Incident’?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tune in next time for even more bad decisions.


	17. The Guacamole Incident

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even in flashbacks Sara doesn't know how to deal with her emotions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry for leaving you hanging for so long. I've been excited to post this chapter ecer since I planned it, and I'm looking forward to the next one as well! Thank you all so much for your support. Your comments and kind words mean the world to.me :)
> 
> Enjoy!

“No! What's the guacamole incident?” asked Zari. She made herself comfortable, eager to finally hear the story that her friends had been mentioning ever since she met them.

 

Sara turned to Amaya, a solemn look of pride and nostalgia in her eyes “Do you think she's ready? Do we tell her?”

 

Amaya sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. She had a…  _ different _ recollection of the incident, but nevertheless, it was time Zari heard the story “I think it’s time.”

 

________________________

 

_ September 29th, 2014. _

 

It was just a little less than a month into the Legends’ 7th grade year at Star City Middle School and the air was thick with hormones and bad cafeteria food.

 

Nate and Amaya were new to the school but had mixed in well with the group, and everyone was slowly coming to terms with Len’s expulsion.

 

Everything was fine and the friends were discussing the new cafeteria options that came with the transition from elementary school to middle school.

 

“Guys, they have guacamole!” said Nate, dropping his red plastic lunch tray onto the table and sitting down. 

 

“You don't say.” said Jax, gesturing to Nate's plate that was overflowing with little sealed pouches of chunky green goodness.

 

Jax was a year younger, but he had been coming to Star City MS for mechanics classes, and with some help from a math and science tutor, he was able to skip a grade. He soon fell in with the Legends after he and Ray were lab partners in tech ed and he'd been like a younger brother to the group ever since.

 

This was the year that all of the primary schools and elementary schools mixed and the kids who had been together for years were now mixed with other kids who had been together for years.

 

Sara lucked out schedule-wise. Most of the kids in her classes were people she had either been friends with or just knew from being around for so long. Because of all the familiar faces (and some new ones like Nate and Amaya), she was able to get along with everyone in most of her classes.

 

Except for one girl.

 

Ava Sharpe, to be specific.

 

She just so happened to share every single class with Sara Lance and from the first day of school, she had gotten on Sara's nerves.

 

The two had been debating and pettily bantering nonstop since the start of the school year,  and Sara felt a burning in her chest that she couldn't quite place that occured everytime the two argued, but that just made her want to do it even more.

 

Back then, Sara had been even more impulsive and even less concerned about consequences. 

 

She almost looked forward to pushing Ava’s buttons and making her notice her.

 

“This guac is terrible “ said Mick, taking one of the mushy packets and squeezing it out onto his tray.

 

Nate nodded “I agree. Not a fan.”

 

“Hey, what are you thinking about?” asked Amaya, nudging Sara on the shoulder.

 

“Just the debate in history this morning.”

 

“How did you manage to spend 20 minutes arguing with that Ava kid about where the Confederate base should have been?”

 

“Because Ava’s a bitch, that's why!” Sara said, raising her voice slightly.

 

“Woah, language!” Ray exclaimed, gesturing to Jax who just rolled his eyes.

 

“I'm not a baby, Ray.”

 

“You are to us, buddy.” Ray said jokingly, causing Jax to roll his eyes once again, but this time in a more loving way.

 

“Wait, how could you even argue where the base should have been ?” asked Nate “I'm confused.”

 

Nate was a self proclaimed history nerd and he studied harder than any of his friends.

 

“Because,” explained Sara “If it were in Florida it would have taken the North people  _ forever _ to get down there and attack. They would have had a better chance of fending them off if the base was in Florida. Not to defend the Confederacy, though. They were a-holes, they just happened to be a-holes that should have based in Florida.” she added.

 

“But all the Confederate money was in Virginia-" Started Nate before Amaya cut him off.

 

“Don't. Just, Don't. I can't listen to this debate unfold again.” 

 

The group started talking about the new cafeteria foods again but Sara's thoughts drifted back to the debate in history.

 

Ava had found her own group of wet blankets to hang out with and instead of picking fights with Sara, she had started talking to her new friends about studying and whether or not they should sign up to be hall monitors. 

 

Over the course of the past week and a half, she and Sara had been crossing paths less and less and something inside Sara was itching to fight with her. Their last interaction was when Sara stumbled into history late and Ava gave her an ’ _ I-told-you-so _ ’ smile that set her over the edge.

 

For a brief flicker of a moment, it crossed Sara's mind that maybe she was only doing this to get attention from Ava but before she could spend even a fraction of a second longer dwelling on the topic, a cold sludge hit her cheek.

 

She whipped her head around to see Mick, who had squeezed a packet of guacamole until it burst and Sara had been caught in the crossfire. 

 

“Aww man, I think this stains!” said Amaya, blotting the fluorescent green stain on her shirt.

 

“Sorry.” mumbled Mick.

 

As Sara had finished cleaning off her face, she made eye contact with Ava, who had clearly seen what happened. She stifled a laugh and gave Sara a sarcastic smile before turning back to the conversation happening at her table.

 

Sara exhaled and turned to Nate “Can you get me like, 20 more of those guacamole packets?”

 

Nate got up and Amaya turned to her “What are you going to do?”

 

“I'm going to end this Ava thing once and for all.”

 

“Oh no, this sounds like it's going to be bad. I don't know you guys very well, but but I think I know you guys well enough to know this is going to end badly.” Amaya turned to Ray “Am I right?”

 

Ray just shrugged and Nate returned with two handfuls of cold guac packets.

 

“Here ya go, Captain.” he said, handing them over to Sara.

 

“Captain? Why did you call me  _ Captain?” _

 

“I dunno, you're kinda like our Captain. You lead us to victory and keep our little group here under control.”

 

“I like it.” said Sara, standing up and heading across the cafeteria.

 

“Hey Sara,” started Ava once she was within earshot “come back to try and convince me that Lee should have surrendered in Miami,?”

 

Sara's felt her face turn red and burn with what she told herself was rage, though, a part of her was glad, and almost  _ excited _ to be fighting with Ava again.

 

“Nope.” she said with a shit-eating grin on her face “I came over here to do  _ this.” _

 

Sara took one of the guac packets and threw it at Ava, but much to her displeasure, the small packet didn't open and instead fell to the floor with a light ‘plop’.

 

Ava laughed and looked up to Sara “That all you got, Lance?”

 

Her crowd of hall monitor friends joined in and started laughing at Sara. She clenched her fists and felt a pit of anger brewing in her stomach. She grabbed another guacamole packet and squeezed it harder this time, causing chunks of green sludge to explode onto Ava.

 

“What the hell?” she exclaimed in response, flicking some of the mess off her face. She retaliated by grabbing a forkful of macaroni and cheese and catapulting it at Sara.

 

Sara then fought back by grabbing more guacamole packets and squeezing the contents in Ava’s general direction, hoping something would stick.

 

Then, one of Ava’s friends tossed some spaghetti at Sara and soon the entire cafeteria had broken out into a food fight.

 

There were lunches and condiments flying everywhere. People were out for blood and no amount of yelling from the administrators in the cafeteria seemed to be able to stop anything. In the middle of it all was Sara Lance and Ava Sharpe, channeling their frustration towards each other by throwing handfuls of bad cafeteria food at the people around them, but mostly at one another.

 

Needless to say, there were consequences.

 

The school’s annual Halloween dance was cancelled and this day marked the start of the Legends’ “bad” reputation amongst teachers, and it lead to the student body calling Sara and her friends “The Food Fight Legends of Star City” which evolved into “The Prankster Legends of Star City” which eventually became “The Legends”.

 

And ever since, that day had lived in infamy as “The Guacamole Incident”

 

_____________________________

 

After hearing the full story from Sara (with some commentary from Amaya) Zari exhaled deeply and leaned against a shelf of audiobooks. 

 

“Damn.”

 

Sara smiled “I know right. It may have been one of the stupidest things I’ve ever done but it was pretty epic.”

 

Zari chuckled and shook her head “That’s not what I meant. I just can’t believe that mini you decided to cover Ava in shitty guac because you had a  _ crush _ on her!”

 

Sara’s eyes went wide “What? That’s not what that was about. I did it to-”

 

“To get her attention…” Amaya interrupted, catching on “Yeah, I think Z has a point. You  _ definitely _ had a crush on Ava in 7th grade. It all makes sense now!”

 

Sara rolled her eyes “Come on, guys. I’ve literally been picking fights with her since middle school. I didn’t actually feel, you know, like  _ that _ until the play.”

 

“Dude, it’s obvious. You sure as hell weren’t aware of it yet, but you only started the food fight because you wanted her attention. In kindergarten there was this one guy who kept pulling my hair and stealing my crayons and shit because that’s what kids- especially 5 year old  _ guys _ \- do when they like someone but don’t know how to deal with their feelings.” explained Zari.

 

Sara opened her mouth to protest but closed it. “Holy shit, I had a crush on Ava fucking Sharpe in 7th grade.”

 

Zari smiled proud of her detective work and the three friends shared a laugh on the floor of the dusty school library.

 

“So what’s the plan?” she asked after a while.

 

“Well,” explained Amaya “after the whole food fight thing, nobody  _ really _ got into any trouble. Sure, we had the dance cancelled and we didn’t have the best reputation, but none of us ever directly got punished for the whole ordeal and Ava’s pretty much been  _ pissed _ about it ever since.”

 

Sara continued “I don’t really know where her head’s at right now, but she needs a win and we all need to blow off some steam, so what we do is we reenact the ‘Guacamole Incident’. We start a food fight in the cafeteria sometime this week and get everyone onboard so they can’t pin it on a single person. Then, Ava can either smother me in guac to her heart’s content,  _ or _ get my ass suspended once and for all. Either way, she gets a win and we get to throw a food fight. Best case scenario, she lets off enough steam to talk to me, we sort this shit out, and everything goes back to the way it was like 9 hours ago.”

 

She let the plan wash over her friends and the other two women nodded.

 

“So we start a food fight?” asked Zari.

 

Sara nodded and Amaya closed her eyes “I can’t believe I’m condoning this and I’m annoyed that this plan actually makes sense.”

 

“That’s the spirit!” Sara said standing up. “Now all we need is to get the guys in on it and buy some supplies.”

 

“Supplies?” asked Amaya “What kind of supplies do you need? Won’t there be food in the cafeteria?”

 

“Well it wouldn’t be an  _ iconic _ Legends’ food fight without extensive amounts of guacamole.”

 

Amaya shook her head “And to think,  _ I _ endorsed this.”

 

___________________________

 

“Hey do either of you want to come to Costco with me?”

 

Sara was on Houseparty with Ray, Mick, and Nate and she figured that a trip to the store for food fight supplies would be the perfect opportunity to talk to them about what was happening.

 

“Uh, hell yeah!” said Nate “I hope they have the free samples of those granola bars with the pretzels inside.”

 

“Ray-ray? You in?” Sara asked.

 

“Yeah, why not.” he agreed “But can you pick me up? I don't have my car with me right now.”

 

“I can do that.” she agreed “What about you, Mick?”

 

“I can't.” he said, annoyed “I have that stupid English report due tomorrow morning and if I blow it off my grade’s are fucked.”

 

Sara pouted “That sucks, sorry. But Nate and Ray, you guys are in, right?”

 

The guys nodded.

 

“Nice! Okay, I'm heading out now, and Ray, I can pick you up in like 10 minutes.”

 

The group said their goodbyes and Sara ended the call, whipping her keys out of her back pocket and hopping into the Waverider.

 

As she drove down the familiar neighborhood roads to get to Ray’s house, she thought about what Zari had said earlier in the library.  _ Everything _ Zari had said earlier in the library.

 

This day had been one hell of an emotional rollercoaster, but Sara's mind had finally found some sort of peace in this plan and she was reassuring herself that everything would be okay.

 

There was even a small voice in her head telling her that she would be fine without Ava, but she forced herself to ignore that one because she knew it was a lie.

 

Sara didn't know  _ how _ she had managed to fall so hard for her so fast, but here she was, driving in a shitty van, trying to piece her life back together and feeling empty inside, after only a week of dating the woman she had hated for years.

 

Or at least the women she had  _ thought  _  she hated for years.

 

Sara's mind kept flashing back to the food fight, and her relationship with Ava  _ before _ the incident, as well as their relationship  _ after _ . Maybe Zari was right. Maybe she  _ had _ been crushing on Ava for the last 4 years, because that sure as hell would explain why losing her hurt so much. 

 

She drifted back to reality once she turned onto Ray’s street and saw the recognizable, large houses around where he lived.

 

Sara pulled into his driveway and beeped the horn twice. A moment later, Ray came hurrying down the front walkway holding his jacket.

 

He plopped into the passenger's seat and buckled in.

 

“Hey, what's up?”

 

Sara shrugged “Nothing.”

 

Ray accepted her answer and began fiddling with the radio as Sara turned out of the cozy neighborhoods onto one of the main roads.

 

As if the universe was messing with her, the first song Ray settled on was  _ Since U Been Gone _ by Kelly Clarkson which was, in Sara's opinion, too soon.

 

Thankfully, he soon changed the station, but that song was no better, considering that it was  _ We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together  _ by Taylor Swift, which felt like a punch to the gut, especially since she had just been worrying about losing Ava forever just moments before, but what really hurt was when Ray switched stations a third time and landed on Adele's  _ Someone Like You.  _ That one hurt.

 

But before Sara could start tearing up, Ray changed stations once more before finally deciding on  _ Africa _ by Toto and the pair sang along until they pulled into the Costco parking lot.

 

When they got to the large building, Nate was already waiting outside. He didn't have a membership card, so he had pretty much been stuck outside until Sara arrived.

 

“There you guys are!” he said, enveloping his friends into a group hug “The lady at the front was starting to look suspicious.”

 

Sara chuckled and flashed her Costco card at the woman at the door, allowing her and her friends into the land of unnecessarily large quantities of food.

 

Before Nate could jump into a large cardboard box full of 10 foot tall Beebos, Sara grabbed him and Ray by their shirt sleeves and dragged them across the store into the refrigerated dips section.

 

They stood there in silence for a moment while Sara tried to find the right words, when Nate spoke up. 

 

“Why are we standing over-"

 

Sara interrupted. “I think I'm in love with Ava.” 

“Oh.” said Ray “Ava Sharpe?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Cool.” said Nate, not entirely sure how to respond.

 

“But that's not all of it.” Sara continued “We dated for a while. Up until this morning, actually. Listen, I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys but we wanted to keep it a secret for a while and Amaya only knew because she walked in on us making out in the hallway, but yeah, I'm in love with Ava Sharpe.

 

Nate took a second to process what Sara had told him until the realization hit. “Fuck.” he turned to Ray “The salsa.”

 

Soon Ray caught on and his eyes grew wide with worry “Oh my god Sara I'm so sorry, I think we ruined this for you!”

 

Sara put a hand on his shoulder “I know what happened, Zari told me, and I'm going to tell you guys what I told her: You guys are a bunch of dumbasses but you're some of the most thoughtful and loyal dumbasses I've ever met.”

 

“What do we do now?” asked Nate “How do we fix this?”

 

Sara gestured to the large tubs of fresh guacamole around them “Gentlemen, I think you're wondering why I've brought you here today. Tomorrow, during lunch, we're going to pull what could quite possibly be the stupidest thing this friend group has ever done, and we are going to start a food fight. More specifically, a guacamole food fight that will end in either me getting covered in guac, me getting my ass suspended, or both. Either way, I get to try and fix this mess with Ava in a fun way, we get to have a food fight, and when all is said and done, Zari will explain to Ava what  _ really _ happened this morning and we'll all live happily ever after.”

 

“This is a pretty good plan, but if it backfires, you could get taken out of the play.” Ray pointed out.

 

“That's why this plan isn't going to backfire,” assured Sara. “...I hope.”

  
  



	18. Food Fight?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Guacamole is thrown, bad decisions are made, and everything goes horribly wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm soooo so so sorry for the late update, but I promise I haven't forgotten abouy this fic. School started up for me a dew weeks ago and it's been a bot difficult falling back into my old rhythm, but I've got it down now, so you guys probably won't have to wait longer than a week between updates.
> 
> Enjoy!

 

Lunch was dismissed in three different 30 minute blocks by 5th period class. This was how it always had been and this was how it always will be.

 

Anyone who had 5th period science or math, regardless of their teacher or course level, went to A-lunch. Anyone who had English, a foreign language, or a music elective for 5th period had B-Lunch, and anyone in gym, history, or an elective went to the last lunch of the day: D-lunch.

 

Lunch was one of the two times a day where the stars seemed to align and all of the Legends were together. 

 

Ray and Nate had Tech. Ed. together, Sara and Mick were stuck in a home-ec class (which they had made the mistake of signing up for, thinking it was just cooking food during class and handling knives), Zari was in a computer coding elective, and Amaya and Ava had honors history together.

 

The guac had been bought, the plan was… somewhat do-able, and when the bell finally rang for C-lunch, there was no going back.

 

Amaya had been thinking about what she was about to partake in. She had calculated every possible outcome, and concluded that the worst case scenario for  _ her _ would be getting caught and labeled as an accomplice which would result in a play suspension and possible extended lunch-detention.

 

Not too bad.

 

But the worst of it all, was the fact that it probably wouldn’t come to that. This plan was batshit fucking crazy. She knew that. But she also knew that it could possibly work.

 

Which is why, she caught up to Ava on their way out of history.

 

“Hey, Ava, can we talk for a second?”

 

She reluctantly stopped and turned around “Yeah?”

 

“I just…” Amaya didn’t think she’d get this far and didn’t know what to say. “I know it’s none of my business, but there are good intentions behind anything Sara does.”

 

Ava scoffed bitterly “There sure as hell weren’t any good intentions behind what happened the other day.”

 

“I know.” said Amaya, giving Ava a meaningful look before jogging to the cafeteria.

 

Amid the usual buzz and chatter of the school cafeteria, there was an added layer to it all. It was as if the school was overdue for something…  _ interesting. _ They needed something to talk about, something to be able to say they witnessed, something to shake things up.

 

The closest thing they had gotten to any type of commotion this year was when two sophomores got into a fistfight in the hallway, but that was all about to change.

 

Amaya was quickly waved over to her usual table where her friends were standing in a huddle.

 

“Are we sure we want to do this?” asked Nate.

 

“No, I’m not sure.” said Sara “But I  _ am _ sure that we bought $16 worth of guacamole and there’s no way I’m backing out now, but if you guys want to leave, that’s okay-”

 

Ray cut her off “No, we’re all in this together.” he looked up at the clock “We have about three minutes until the lunch lines will close and everyone will be sitting down.”

 

Sara nodded “Okay, cool. Are our distractions in place?”

 

Zari pointed two rows behind them to a table of kids from her coding class “Whenever you’re ready I’ll text Wally and Carter to start texting and playing music on their phones. That should get at least two of the cafeteria monitors over there because they seem to  _ live  _ by the whole ‘no phones at lunch’ rule.” she said, rolling her eyes.

 

“You’re just pissed that you got your phone confiscated for checking Cate Blanchett’s instagram last week.” said Amaya with a smile.

 

“Whatever.” said Zari “Anyway, we have those two and then back by the water fountains we have John Constantine who said he’d do anything in the name of chaos and I don’t know what the fuck he means by that, but he’s our failsafe wildcard,  _ and _ he’s a good shot of getting the rest of the student body to join in on the food fight.”

 

“Nice.” said Sara. She looked over to where the lunch lines were closing off, and then back to her friends “I guess it’s time.”

 

She picked up her lunchbox from the table and started walking over to where Ava was sitting, her heart pounding with every step. 

 

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Wally and Carter being reprimanded for texting, and as everything slowly started to fall into place, her gaze zeroed in on Ava.

 

Sara didn’t know why, but her feet were moving despite her mind telling her to go back. She was a good four feet away when Ava finally noticed her.

 

“What the hell are you doing here?”

 

Sara took the seat across from Ava. “I’m not sure.” she said truthfully.

 

“Well then leave.”

 

“I can’t.”

 

“Give me one good reason why not.” Ava said, crossing her arms in an attempt to guard herself even more and hide how much she was truly hurting.

 

“Because,” said Sara “I have to do this.”

 

She grabbed the bag full of guacamole that she had in her lunchbox as planned, and as she felt the dip ooze between her fingers, she looked around her at Ava and her hall monitor friends and for a moment, she was transported to that day all those years ago. But something was different.

 

This time, she  _ knew _ she was in love with Ava and couldn’t bring herself to hurt her, which is why in that fraction of a second, Sara strayed away from the plan and smashed her hand full of guac onto her own head.

 

When she felt the cold substance sliding down her shirt, time sped up. She saw Ava’s shocked reaction and was too stunned to proceed with anything.

 

That’s when Zari stood on top of her chair and yelled in an authoritative tone, “Food fight!”

 

No one moved.

 

Nate, Ray, Mick, and Amaya looked around at each other with their fistfulls of un-thrown food and wondered how they were to proceed.

 

The cafeteria was silent, Zari was still standing, Ava was shocked, Sara was covered in slimy guacamole, and administrators were coming to get to the bottom of the whole ordeal.

 

Two teachers were walking over to Zari and two were walking towards Sara. Not even John Constantine spontaneously performing shitty close-up magic tricks in the middle of the room could save them now (though, to be fair, it was pretty damn impressive).

 

As an administrator came to Sara to take her away, she made eye contact with Ava, who grabbed her plate of fettuccine alfredo and dumped in onto herself.

 

When the assistant principal finally made her way to the table, she sternly glared at Sara and Ava, and Ava gulped. She had never  _ really _ gotten in trouble and her mind was racing.

 

Sara noticed and was about to instinctively reach out and provide some type of comfort when the AP started talking to them.

 

“You two. Office.  _ Now. _ ”

 

Ava quickly abided and gathered her things, looking straight at the tile floor while she quickly walked to the office. Sara followed right behind her and looked up to the cafeteria doorway where she saw Zari being ushered away in a similar fashion. She made eye contact with Sara and shrugged.

 

They were fucked.

 

______________________________

 

In Sara’s personal experience, the worst part of being sent to the principal’s office was having to sit and wait in the front office.

 

Being forced to sit there and dread your own fate while everyone you’ve ever talked to seemed to walk by and look at you with pity was almost worth than any punishment you could be given by the school.

 

Zari, Ava, and Sara sat quietly together. Ava was still and silent, looking at the ground and wiping alfredo sauce off of her jeans, Sara was looking around, trying to get as much of the guacamole out of her hair as she could, and Zari was slouching, trying to find a comfortable position in the chair.

 

“I guess it’s true what they say about gay people not being able to sit in chairs correctly.” quipped Sara, gesturing to where Zari was sitting cross legged in the armchair.

 

She snorted and Ava rolled her eyes.

 

Zari was about to respond when Principal Hunter walked out and she quickly put her feet back on the ground.

 

He pinched the bridge of his nose “I heard you ladies were involved in a… food fight? Was it?”

 

They all nodded in unison.

 

“Very well then, which one of you three would like to come in for an interrogation first?”

 

They all exchanged a glance and Ava, on the verge of tears, was about to stand up and volunteer herself, when Zari sprung up from her chair and stepped forward.

 

“I’ll go.” she said, looking back at Sara “This was my fault, anyway.”

 

“Very well then.” Said Principal Hunter, leading Zari into his office and leaving the other two alone in the silence of the front office at 12:47pm.

 

“So…” said Sara, turning to Ava after a moment of awkward silence When she didn’t respond, Sara continued “I know you hate me right now, and I suppose you have every right to, but I’m bored so can we just talk for like, five minutes?”

 

Ava let out something that sounded like a scoff and crossed her arms “What is there to talk about?”   
  


“We don’t have to talk about… anything that's happened in the last two weeks, but we should talk about  _ something _ . Like the play director. What the hell is up with her? Is she a teacher? A student? A magical robot?”

 

At that, Ava smiled “Yeah, she is kind of mysterious.

 

Sara’s heart fluttered when Ava smiled, but she ignored it. For now, she was glad to be having a civil conversation with Ava, and feelings would just set herself up for another heartbreak, though she was pleasantly surprised when Ava continued the conversation.

 

“What the hell was that about?” she asked, turning to meet Sara’s eyes for the first time in what seemed like forever “What the  _ fuck _ possessed you to slam guac into your hair.”

 

Sara chuckled “It’s a long story. But I guess in a way I wanted us to get even for the whole 7th grade thing.”

 

“Wow. I forgot about that.”

 

Sara tilted her head and looked at Ava skeptically “No you didn't!”

 

“No I didn’t.” said Ava, shaking her head, a hint of a smile forming on her lips, before she remembered where she was “Nevertheless, what you did back there was stupid. Now we’re all going to get in trouble.”

 

Sara scoffed “I’m sorry, but if I remember correctly, it wasn’t me who poured pasta in your lap, was it?”

 

Ava blushed and sat up straighter “Fair.”

 

Before Sara could press and continue to tease Ava about why she brought herself into the sorry excuse for a food fight, Zari walked out, Principal Hunter following behind her.

 

“I told him what happened.” said Zari “I told him that this whole thing was my fault and you two had nothing to do with it.”

 

Ava and Sara looked at each other before nodding in agreement.

 

Principal Hunter cleared his throat “If this is correct, Miss Tomaz will serve two months of after school detention, but all the two of you will need to do is file an incident report.”

 

Sara looked at Zari who mouthed  _ ‘trust me’. _

 

She and Ava turned to their principal and nodded.

 

When he disappeared into his office to retrieve the forms Sara and Ava would have to fill out, Sara pulled Zari into a hug.

 

“You didn’t have to do that.” she murmured.

 

“Yeah I did.” said Zari, pulling away “When you think about it, this whole shitshow was my fault. Besides, I think it was time I made the whole locker thing up to you guys.”

 

Just then, Amaya and Nate walked in, carrying a limping Ray between them.

 

“Hey guys!” said Ray, cheerful as always. “I  _ hurt my ankle. _ ” he said with a wink.

 

Nate nodded “Yep. We had to take him to the clinic to get ice for his  _ injury _ .”

 

“How did you two make it into the school play?” Amaya said, laughing at her friends’ terrible acting skills.

 

Everyone in the room shared a laugh.

 

“I have two months of after school detention.” said Zari.

 

“I’m sorry, Z. That sucks.” Said Ray, placing a comforting hand on his friend’s shoulder.

 

“Don’t worry.” said Sara “We’ll probably end up there with you at least once a week.”

 

At that, Zari laughed.

 

“Are you free to go to class now?” Asked Amaya. “I sure wouldn’t want to miss study hall with you.”

 

“Yeah, I’m ready.” Zari waved goodbye to her friends and walked out of the office with Amaya.

 

Nate looked at the clock “It was fun stopping by but Ray and I should probably get back to english.”

 

The two guys walked out together, leaving Ava and Sara alone again.

 

Sara sat down and used the next five minutes to scroll through Instagram. When Principal Hunter finally came out, he was empty handed.

 

“Well, I seem to have misplaced the incident forms so I suppose you two are free to go to class. Do you need passes?”

 

Sara shook her head “I’m going down the hall to PE from here, I’ll be fine.”

 

Ava did the same “This is my free period.”

 

“Very well then.” he walked back into his office and Ava and Sara stood up. Sara was halfway through the door when Ava called after her.

 

“Sara,”

 

She turned around “Yeah?”

 

“I’ll uh, I’ll see you at rehearsal.”

 

Sara nodded “Yeah. It’ll be fun.”

 

Sara started down the hall, smiling to herself. She and Ava may not have been on perfect terms yet, but they were getting there. And besides, the show wasn’t over yet.


	19. What Time is It? (showtime)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why Zari Tomaz should never become a medical professional.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M BACK WITH AN UPDATE. So first of all, I'm so so so so sorry for leaving you guys hanging for so long. There was a lot of shit going on and this chapter ended up being WAYYYY longer than I anticipated, but I made up for it with double-gay softness.
> 
> The next chapter is kind of an epilogue/wrap-up, so that one will be much shorter, don't worry.
> 
> Thank you guys so much for being patient with me while I spent forever writing and rewriting and editing this fic. Your support means the world to me. Oh, and fun fact, a lot of the dialogue used in the play parts is what I remember from my 6th grade production of Peter Pan. (I was stage crew lol)
> 
> Enjoy!!!

**Six Days, Four Hours, and Nine Minutes Until Showtime**

 

Showtime was just around the corner and almost no one could believe it. The past two months had seemed to fly by. Months felt weeks, weeks felt like days, and everyone's jaw dropped during the second dress rehearsal when Gary reminded the cast and crew that opening night was just a little less than a week away.

 

Sara felt particularly shocked by the news, and who could blame her? In the short span of time since she had first auditioned until now, a lot had happened. She got a role she never thought she would, she worked her ass off to memorize lines, she'd fallen in love with the last person she'd ever expect to wind up with, and she got her heart broken, even more unexpectedly.

 

She turned her attention back to where she was helping Zari fix a tear in Amaya's pirate costume and mentally ran through some of her lines.

 

"Ah, dammit Sara!" Amaya said, wincing pain.

 

"My bad." said Sara, pulling her sewing needle out of Amaya's arm.

 

"So..." Zari started "six days until the thing."

 

"The thing?" asked Sara "Did you really just refer to the musical we've been working on for months as ‘the thing’?"

 

Zari whipped her head around to face Sara, seemingly unaware that she had been standing there "Uh," she looked at Amaya who nodded reassuringly. "That's actually not what I meant." she said slowly.

 

Sara gave her friends a confused look "Oh."

 

"Zari and I are going to dinner after the show." explained Amaya. She and Zari looked at Sara expectantly, but the blonde seemed to miss the point.

 

"You're going to dinner? Without me?" Sara asked in mock offense "Rude." she said, smiling and nudging Zari on the shoulder.

 

Amaya and Zari were still staring at her expectantly when it finally clicked.

 

"Wait. Like, on a date?"

 

Amaya nodded and Zari looked down at the spool of thread she was holding in an attempt to hide the smile that was prominently glowing on her face, but Sara noticed and soon began to smile too.

 

"Awww." she gushed "You guys, that's seriously so fucking cute."

 

Zari shrugged "We have our moments."

 

Before Sara could continue to tease Zari and Amaya, Ava walked up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder.

 

"Hey." said Sara, whipping her head around.

 

"Hey. So, I don't know if we're friends, or whatever, but do you think we could go over our lines for the house-building scene? It's the only one I'm shaky on."

 

"Yeah, definitely," said Sara, only a tad too excited "that's the one I've been struggling with too."

 

"Great, so... does lunch on Monday sound good?"

 

"Yeah, for sure." said Sara.

 

"Cool." Ava flashed a half smile before walking away and Sara stood there thinking for a moment afterwards.

 

"You okay there, Sara?" Amaya asked, teasing her friend for looking like a love struck puppy.

 

"Yeah. Why?" she said, turning around.

 

"Because you've been standing there for two minutes and we've called your name three times." explained Zari.

 

Sara blushed "I was thinking."

 

"Yeah, about Ava." Zari said with a laugh, and Amaya elbowed her in the ribs. "Ow! I'm not wrong."

 

"She's not." agreed Sara.

 

"So, what's the deal with all that?" Asked Amaya, touching her two index fingers together in order to emphasize her point.

 

"We're friends." said Sara "Kind of. I think."

 

"I still don't understand why you didn't tell her that the whole thing was my fault." said Zari 

"I would have backed you up, she would have believed you, and then you two would get to be all gross and adorable together."

 

"If I'm being honest, I don't know why I didn't tell her. I just... I don't know. I couldn't. I tried to make words come out of my mouth, but they didn't because apparently my bisexual disaster brain won't allow me to say anything around Ava that isn't stupid."

 

"Wow." said Zari, teasingly "You're really in love."

 

Sara rolled her eyes and nodded "I guess."

 

"I get it." Said Amaya "I remember a while ago Zari and I were in gym and she-"

 

"Nope." Zari interrupted "No no no no no. We're not telling that story."

 

"Hell yes we are." said Sara "What'd she do?"

 

"She said, and I quote, 'You smell really good' and then when I turned around and thanked her, she walked into one of the volleyball nets, tripped over her feet, and sprained her wrist."

 

Sara turned to Zari "You said you sprained your wrist playing volleyball."

 

"And you said you liked Ray's weird butter coffee, we all fabricate the truth." retorted Zari.

 

The three of them laughed before Amaya looked up at the clock "We should finish fixing the costume, I'm onstage in five minutes."

 

Sara picked up the needle she had been holding and got back to work.

 

"So," said Amaya, arms at her sides while Sara and Zari sewed her blouse closed "back to the whole Ava thing. What's your plan?"

 

"Yeah," continued Zari "are you going to perform some, like, grand romantic gesture to win her back?"

 

She meant it as a joke. Of course she meant it as a joke, because Sara wouldn't actually do something like that, but the look that came across her face said otherwise and Zari cursed herself for putting that idea into her head.

 

Before she could make sure Sara wasn't thinking what she thought she was thinking, Gideon popped backstage "Places, ladies."

 

Sara grabbed her green Peter Pan hat and hurried out the door, leaving Amaya with a loose string of thread hanging off her arm

_________________

 

**Three Days, Nine Hours, and Four Minutes Until Showtime**

 

Sara waved Ava over to where she was sitting in the cafeteria.

 

The legends were off at their usual table and Sara had retreated to a more vacant corner of the room for some privacy.

 

Ava placed her binders and books down on the table and flashed Sara a small smile.

 

“So which scene were you having trouble with again?” asked Sara, taking a bite out of her chicken nugget and flipping through her script.

 

“The scene where the Lost Boys try to build a house in Neverland.” Ava said. While she was finding the page, Sara shivered and rubbed her hands together.

 

“You good?” Ava questioned, raising an eyebrow “You'd better not be getting sick before premiere night, Lance.”

 

Sara nodded “I'm fine, don't worry. I just made the mistake of wearing a tank top and shorts to Spanish. You know how Señorita King likes to keep her classroom fucking freezing all the time.”

 

“Hace frio.” Ava corrected.

 

“Shut up. It's sixty-three degrees in there, Aves! Sixty. Three. Degrees.” Sara felt her face get hot after letting the nickname slip from her mouth, but she continued “and I'm right next to the AC. It's like hell but colder.”

 

Ava laughed at Sara's dramatic retelling of the story, but her eyes traveled to Sara's forearm, which was covered on goosebumps. “Oh wow. You've been out of class for fifteen minutes, you sure you're good?”

 

“I'm fine. Repeated Sara. You can ask Wally, or Ray, or Kendra. They're all freezing too.”

 

“Well yeah but none of them are playing the lead in our school play in three days.”

 

“I'm not sick Ava. I swear.” Sara shivered after saying that which didn't help her case.

 

“If you're not sick  _ now _ you're gonna be. You're literally shivering. Here.” Ava yanked her swim team hoodie off, revealing a small strip of her abs, before tossing the garment at Sara's face “Put this on. And don't think I'm doing this because I have a heart. I'm doing this because your understudy is Gary and I'd rather not kiss him in front of our friends and family on Thursday.”

 

Sara smiled sarcastically “Nice to know you care.” she pulled the oversized hoodie over her head and immediately felt enveloped in the warmth. She was surrounded by the smell of Ava and it was almost too much, but then they started rehearsing, and laughing, and talking, and then rehearsing some more and it all felt like things were starting to go back to normal. 

 

As they were leaving the cafeteria together to get to their next classes, Sara stopped to take off the hoodie “I should probably give this back.”

 

Ava stopped her “No, it's fine. You have physical education next, anyways, and the health room is cold too.”

 

“Thanks.” said Sara, turning her tone soft “Are you sure this is just about not wanting me to get sick?”

 

Ava let out a breath, turning to Sara and grabbing one of her hands “Yes. For now, anyways. I don't want to get back into… all of that right now. Especially with the play just around the corner.”

 

“Oh, yeah, totally.” said Sara, stiffening “I get it.”

 

Ava smiled, lightening the mood “Why? Were you going to dramatically profess your love for me on opening night?”

 

Sara shrugged “We’ll see where the show takes us.”

 

_________________________

 

**Zero Days, Three Hours and Nineteen Minutes Until Showtime.**

 

“Oh god, this is a disaster, how are we going to do this? You look like shit.”

 

Sara flipped her off “That's why I called you, genius.” she coraked.

 

Amaya was pacing around Sara’s living room. They were supposed to be at school 25 minutes ago and Sara currently looked and sounded like she had been run over.

 

“Leave it to you to get sick on opening night.” Amaya muttered.

 

Zari came rushing in from the kitchen, holding a mug of steaming tea.

 

“Here, chug this.” she said, thrusting it into Sara's arms.

 

She reluctantly did as she was told and finished the hot liquid as quick as she could.

 

“Do I sound any better?”

 

“Kind of.” said Amaya “You no longer sound like you're dying but I doubt you'll be able to keep this up the whole show.”

 

Sara flopped down on the couch “I'm so fucked.” she was already in costume but that was about as prepared as she was. She could barely talk, her head was pounding, and she looked awful.

 

“I think we need to call for Gary to replace your role, you're barely able to talk, let alone sing and dance for two hours.” Zari was already dialing Gary's number.

 

“No!” exclaimed Sara “I can't make Ava kiss Gary and after all we've been through, there's no way in  _ hell _ I'm missing this. I don't care if I drop dead onstage, I'm going up there tonight and you both know there's no use stopping me.”

 

Amaya and Zari exchanged a look. Sara was right, there was no way they could stop her if she was this determined.

 

“Okay.” said Amaya “I'll get cold washcloths for you to put on your face and touch up your makeup so you look less horrible- no offense- and Z, you're in charge of making sure the guys and Ava know what's up, and getting Sara some Tylenol or Dayquil or  _ something _ to keep her on her feet for the next few hours.”

 

“Got it.” said Zari, running to Sara's bathroom to look for medicine.

 

“Thanks.” said Sara, turning to Amaya.

 

“You're welcome. Let's just pray this works.”

 

By the time Amaya was done, although Sara still felt like garbage on the inside, from the outside she looked ready to go.

 

“That's better.” Amaya said, admiring her work.

 

Zari walked in, holding a medicine cup full of purple liquid in one hand and her cell phone in the other.

 

“I just told the guys and Ray said he has cough drops in his bag. In the meantime, drink this.”

 

Sara took the medicine like a shot and scrunched her face up once she finished it “Ugh, that tastes like vodka.”

 

Zari shrugged “The bottle said it was vanilla cherry flavored.”

 

“Vanilla cherry flavoured?” asked Amaya, sitting up straighter “Zari, what did you pour into that cup?”

 

“The cold and flu relief stuff.”

 

“ _ What _ cold and flu relief stuff? DayQuil?”

 

“Yeah, something like that, why?”

 

Amaya ran a hand through her hair and sighed “Can you bring the bottle out here?”

 

Zari went to retrieve it and Sara tilted her head “What's going on?” she said, yawning.

 

She was about to reply when Zari came back with the bottle. Amaya examined it for a minute.

 

“Fuck.”

 

“What?” asked Sara.

 

“This isn't DayQuil, it's ZzzQuil.”

 

“Yeah.” said Zari “It's nighttime.”

 

“Oh shit.” said Sara “That's… not good.”

 

“DayQuil is for daytime cold relief. ZzzQuil is for help sleeping. It's like one fourth alcohol.”

 

“Oh.” said Zari, realizing her mistake “Yeah, that's not good.”

 

“It's fine, it hasn't hit me yet.” said Sara, yawning again.

 

“Well, what do we do now?” asked Zari.

 

“We put on the best damn show Star City High has ever seen and we pray.” said Amaya, grabbing her bag “Probably the latter.”

 

____________________

 

**One Hour and Four Minutes Until Showtime**

 

“Where the hell were you?!” asked Ava once Sara, Amaya, and Zari made it backstage.

 

“Home.” said Sara. She was already starting to get out of if.

 

Ava was going to yell at Sara when she noticed that she wasn't acting like herself.

 

“What's going on? Are you on drugs or something?”

 

“It's a long story.” said Zari “The short version is that she kind of has the flu right now and  _ somebody _ gave her ZzzQuil instead of Dayquil, so that's a situation.”

 

“You say ‘somebody’ as if that wasn't you." Amaya pointed out, smiling.

 

“Wait, aren’t the active ingredients in that  diphenhydramine and alcohol ?” asked Ava.

 

“Yep.” said Amaya “It's a sleeping drug and I think it also treats cold symptoms, so Sara may not be suffering anymore, but she's exhausted.”

 

“I'm fine.” said Sara “Just a little sleepy, but hey, if I could survive standing and singing for an hour every day in first period chorus, I can survive two hours of Peter Pan. Besides, I was serious when I told you I could do this in my sleep.”

 

“If you say so.” said Ava “Now come on, we have to get in position and make sure the lighting is good and all that other last-minute tech shit.”

 

“Yeah, I should probably run through everything" said Zari, grabbing her clip board and heading off to where her stage crew minions were waiting for her, and Amaya wandered off to where the other pirate actors and actresses were doing warm-ups.

 

Once the crowd around them had thinned, Ava placed a hand on Sara's shoulder “Are you sure you can do this? Because if you're not up to it, I can survive working with Gary for a night, and there are two more shows if you want to-"

 

Sara cut her off “I can do this. I promise.”

 

Ava was going to reply when Gideon rushed over to them “Ah, there you are ladies, I need you up on the main stage.”

 

The two of them hustled over and exchanged a glance before being crowded by student tech crew members who were hooking them up with microphones.

 

Sara was already starting to feel drowsy but she told herself to power through it.

 

For Ava.

 

This show could go one of two ways, but at least they were in it together.

_____________________

 

**Zero Days, Zero Hours, and Six Minutes Until Showtime**

 

“Oh my god we're all going to die what time is it?” Nate asked, pacing around backstage.

 

“Showtime!” Ray replied cheerily.

 

“Now is not the time for a Hamilton reference, buddy.”

 

“No, I'm serious.” said Ray “It's 6:55. We literally have five minutes until showtime.”

 

“Cool.” said Nate “Cool cool cool cool cool.”

 

“You sure?”

 

“Not at all.” he replied “Sara's on sleeping meds, we’re on in-" he looked at the clock “-four and a half minutes, and this is going to be a disaster.”

 

“Maybe.” said Ray “But it’ll be fun!”

 

“You really are captain positivity, aren't you?”

 

“Boys! Places!” Gideon ordered from across the room. Ray and Nate did as obliged, getting onstage beside Ava.

 

Everyone stared diligently at the red, velvet curtain, waiting for it to drop.

 

______________________

 

**It's Fucking Showtime.**

 

Everyone held their breath as the curtain slid open and Ava, Nate, and Ray could see the faces of their friends and family members in the audience. 

 

Everything they had been working towards for the past few months, everything they had gone through, how far they had come, was all leading up to this.

 

The trio made it through their scenes as rehearsed and the audience got a good laugh out of Nate's dramatic facial expressions, but that was the easy part.

 

Sara came creeping through the prop window on queue and although she was moving through the bedroom set with a little less grace than usual, it was fine.

 

She sat down on the floor next to her “shadow" (which was just a black piece of cloth) and that was Ava’s queue to get up out of the prop bed.

 

Ava stated her line “Who are you?” she scanned Sara's face for any signs of trouble and she seemed to be doing alright.

 

“My name is Peter. Peter Pan. I came here to find my shadow, but it won't stick!” Sara exclaimed, stifling a yawn.

 

“Would you like me to sew it on for you?” asked Ava, being careful to help Sara as much as she could with her words.

 

“That would be splendid!”

 

“Alright, but it might hurt a bit.”

 

“Not a prob’lm. I never cry.”

 

Sara and Ava made eye contact. They were barely ten minutes in and Sara was already starting to slur her words. They were fucked.

 

Ava pinned the black cloth onto Sara’s Peter Pan costume and placed a hand on her back while she did it, trying to keep Sara grounded as much as she could.

 

“Thank you so much! You've done it! You've re’tached my shadow! How may I ever repay you, miss…”

 

“Wendy. Wendy Darling. And you could repay me with a kiss, Peter.” 

 

Sara looked confused for a second, as if she forgot that what Ava had just said was an actual line in the script, but she snapped out of it quickly. 

 

“What's a kiss and where can I get one?”

 

Ava leaned closer to Sara, like it said in the script and again, Sara seemed to zone out again. Luckily, it wasn't long enough to be seen as an awkward pause, and she quickly rebounded, pulling an acorn out of her pocket and handing it to Ava.

 

“Here.” she said “One kiss.”

 

“Oh, um, thanks Peter. I shall tie it to the chain around my necklace!”

 

“Cool.” said Sara, a line that wasn't exactly scripted, but wasn't out of place either.

 

“So where do you live, Peter?”

 

“Neverland!”

 

“And where is that?”

 

“Sec’nd star to the left and straight on ‘til morning.”

 

“And is that what they put on your letters?” asked Ava.

 

She was overly alert. She had to be. At any point, something could happen and Ava would have to drive the story as best as she could using improv. Thankfully, Sara really could perform the entire script in her sleep and she was holding up alright.

 

“I don't get any letters.” replied Sara.

 

“Not even from your parents?”

 

“Nope. I live with the lost boys in Neverland, actually, I'm their leader. We live without parents and never grow up.”

 

“How perfectly awful! Who tells you bedtime stories?”

 

“I do. I heard your mother telling you the story of the princess who loses her glass slipper at the ball, though I never heard the ending.”

 

Ava started to relax, maybe this would be fine. “You mean Cinderella?”

 

“That's the bitch.” muttered Sara.

 

Ava covered it up by rushing into her next set of lines “Oh Peter, the prince uses the slipper to find Cinderella and they live happily ever after!”

 

“I have to tell the lost boys!” Sara said, rushing back to the prop window.

 

“Wait, Peter, I can tell you more stories!”

 

“Really? Come with me then!” Sara laced her fingers in with Ava's and tried to pull her along, but Ava stopped.

 

“Where?”

 

“Neverland!”

 

“But how will we get there?” 

 

“By flying!” exclaimed Sara.

 

“Can my brothers come too?” 

 

“Of course. Wake them up so I can teach all of you how to fly.”

 

Ray and Nate emerged from where they were in their prop beds and Ava released a bout of tension in her shoulders. This was going to be easier with the guys helping her, and now she and Sara weren’t the only ones in the spotlight.

 

After a rousing rendition of  _ “I’m Flying"  _ that wouldn't have gone nearly as smoothly without Ray and Nate helping to hold Sara upright during the dance number, the four of them were finally offstage.

 

It was time for a pirate scene which meant they had about five minutes until they had to go back on.

 

“You okay?” asked Ava once their mics were turned off and she and Sara were backstage.

 

“Not really, I'm exhausted.” Sara replied honestly, taking a drink of water.

 

“I noticed.” said Nate “There's at least another hour left, how are we going to get through this?”

 

Ava shrugged “We try our best and hope Sara doesn't pass out onstage.”

 

Zari ran up to them holding her clipboard and a harness “Put this on.” she said, tossing it to Sara.

 

“But we don't have another flying scene until the end of the show.”

 

“I know,” said Zari “but Ray had to keep you from tripping over yourself in that last scene and this’ll at the very least keep you upright.”

 

Sara shrugged and put the harness on. It was mildly uncomfortable, but it fit discreetly under her costume and was better than falling off the stage.

 

The audience started clapping, signifying that Amaya had done a fantastic job, but also that Sara had to get back onstage. 

 

“We've got your back, Captain.” said Nate, helping Sara up. She nodded and headed back out.

 

She successfully made it through a scene full of dialogue and singing  _ “I won't grow up", _ only flubbing a few lines. Sara lost her footing and tripped once, but she was caught by the harness and recovered quickly.

 

This was actually turning out alright. The ensemble cast was adapting to Sara's… condition, and the audience didn't seem to notice the fact that Sara was literally on the verge of passing out and falling asleep.

  
  


Before they knew it, it was time for intermission and everyone relaxed a bit.. The show was half over and they’d managed to make it through without a disaster.

 

Once the curtain closed, Sara stumbled backstage, only to be surrounded by her peers.

 

“How are you doing?” Asked Nate.

 

Ray threw her a bottle of water “Are you feeling any better?”

 

“Give her some space, would you?” said Amaya, shooing the crowd away.

 

Sara plopped down onto the couch backstage “I hate this.”

 

“At least you're not coughing anymore.” Amaya pointed out.

 

Sara smiled and let out a fake cough before opening her bottle of water and taking a sip.

 

Ava came back to where Sara and Amaya were sitting.

 

“You okay? How are you feeling?”

 

“Tired. Disoriented. Kind of drunk.” Sara replied honestly.

 

Amaya nodded and looked over to where she was being waved over by her pirate castmates. “I'd better get going.” she said, jogging off and leaving Sara and Ava alone together.

 

Ava sat down on the couch beside Sara and Sara adjusted herself so her head was in Ava's lap.

 

“Hey.” she said softly.

 

“Hey.” replied Ava “You're doing an amazing job out there.”

 

“I feel like garbage.”

 

“Could've fooled me.”

 

They sat there for a few moments. Sara had been doing a good job to fight her own drowsiness, but being with Ava made her feel so secure that she could barely stop her eyelids from drooping.

 

“Talk to me.“ she mumbled.

 

“What?” asked Ava.

 

“Talk to me.” repeated Sara “I need you to keep me awake for the last ten minutes of intermission.”

 

“Oh.” Ava lifted Sara’s head from her lap and propped her up so she was sitting on the couch. “Well, for starters you'll be less likely to pass out back here if you're sitting up straight.”

 

“But you smell really good.” Sara protested, only to realize what she had just said and blush profusely.

 

Ava looked down, but decided not to tease Sara, given the fact that she had been working her ass off.

 

“You’re really good at this.”

 

“Good at what?” asked Sara.

 

“Acting.”

 

“Thanks.”

 

“No, really.” said Ava,“I know I was kind of a bitch at the beginning of all this-”

 

Sara scoffed “Kind of?”

 

Ava playfully rolled her eyes before continuing “ _ But _ , I was wrong. You’re doing amazing out there, and you’ve put so much work into this character. I’m impressed.”

 

Sara’s face turned red “Cool. That’s… yeah, that’s cool.” she stuttered “You’re uh, you’re really great too.”

 

Ava nodded “Thanks.”

 

Nate walked in and plopped onto the couch beside them “I hate these boots.”

 

“Get over it.” said Zari, following behind them.

 

“You two,” Zari gestured between Sara and Ava “I need you guys onstage in thirty seconds.”

 

Ava stood up and grabbed Sara’s hands, peeling her off the couch. 

 

“Do you think you have another act in you?” she asked.

 

“No.” said Sara “But it’s not like I have any other options, so let’s fucking do this.”: 

 

“I’ll take it.” said Ava.

 

Everyone was in their places for the second act, and when the curtain dropped and the stage lights flared, Sara was a little bit stunned by the brightness.

 

Thankfully, her first scene was with Amaya, and her friend was able to cover for her.

 

“Come to collect your  _ girlfriend _ Peter?” she thundered, covering up Sara’s shock. She was able to immediately get back on track.

 

“Hook! Boy oh boy, you thought you’d get away with it?”

 

They finished their dialogue and Sara Lance, graceful as ever, managed to trip over a box and do a spin-kick in the air and turn herself around, causing both her male  _ and _ female castmates to drop their jaws in awe.

 

Amaya glanced at Sara to make sure she was alright before turning to one of her pirate crew castmates and saying her next line “You must fo blockade the ship before those disgraceful lost boys come over. The lot of you must get a jump before they act as a bump in the road; work ahead.”

 

Sara replayed the words in her head, thinking about what her next line was. There was a scripted pause, so she had time to work it through.

 

_ “a bump in the road; work ahead" _

 

_ “road; work ahead" _

 

_ “road work ahead" _

 

In the midst of the tiniest of memory lapses, Sara's last two functioning brain cells were putting words together and she said what she thought sounded right.

 

“Uh,  _ yeah, _ I sure  _ hope _ it does.”

 

The onstage actors were either laughing, or in shock, and this wasn’t going to be an easy screw-up to recover from.

 

Ray looked at Zari backstage and she shrugged.

 

Staying true to his self-proclaimed title of “knight in shining armour”, Ray ran onto the stage.

 

“That’s right! I sure hope the lost boy’s determination acts as a bump in the road for you all!”

 

“Ah, young man, you have come to help me rescue our lovely Wendy!” bellowed Sara, looking at Ray with a mixture of gratitude and confusion.

 

“Yes! Why of course!”

 

They were off-script, to say the least. Nobody really knew how to get the show back on track and at this point, it was Sara, Ray, and Amaya awkwardly trying to improv their way through a scene, while Ava had to pretend to be unconscious.

 

Backstage, things were even more chaotic, but rather than for all to see, it was more of an intense silent movie.

 

Zari walked over to Gideon.

 

“What do we do?”

 

Gideon shrugged “It’s live theatre. What  _ can _ we do?”

 

Zari peered through the curtain where Ray and Amaya were speaking to one another, using long words to try and stall.

 

“I’m ostentatiously amused.” she could hear Ray saying from onstage.

 

Zari shook her head. She looked down at the black button-up she was wearing and remembered Nate mentioning she looked “pirate-y” the last time she had it on. She looked around backstage for a pirate hat, and spent all of two seconds placing it on her head before bursting through the curtains and onto the illuminated stage.

 

“Captain Hook, what is this boy doing out here?” Zari could feel that audience’s eyes on her and remembered why she had chosen why to stay behind the scenes.

 

“Take him away, my obedient servant!” ordered Amaya.

 

Zari ushered Ray offstage and they were finally able to continue the scene the way it was written.

 

“How dare you come here without backup and think you stand a chance against me, you silly boy!” bellowed Amaya, delivering her next line.

 

Sara scoffed “Bold of you to assume I didn’t bring backup.” That line wasn’t exactly in the script, but it got the job done and the freshman playing Tiger Lily sauntered onstage.

 

Now it was time for the fight scene. Sara pulled out her plastic prop sword and Amaya did the same.

 

While the music swelled, Sara and Amaya stood on the edge of the ship’s set and swung their weapons back and forth. At one point, Sara almost fell, but she used her sword to balance herself.

 

Eventually came the crocodile scene and Sara breathed a sigh of relief. The play was entering its final stretch and she only had to make it through a few more scenes. All that was left was Amaya’s bad-guy monologue, Sara getting Ava free, the departure and kiss scene, and then the final musical number. They were so close.

 

“You may think you can stop me, but what are you without Wendy? Without her, I am the most powerful pirate captain to sail the seas, but you are nothing but a boy whose own parents couldn’t love him.”

 

“But that’s where you’re wrong.” said Sara, feeling a sudden and new burst of energy “Your crew hates you because you’re nothin’ but a joke who has no room for love in his heart. I do, though. I love  _ her _ !”

 

Sara tensed and so did the rest of the people onstage. That wasn’t the line. The line was  _ “I’ve found my own family, one I’m very fond of.” _

 

She turned around to face Ava, who smiled.

 

“There’s nothing and nobody that can stop me now, Pan.” said Amaya, getting the show back on track yet again in what was already shaping up to be a Tony-worthy performance.

 

“You may feel safe now but the clock’s ticking.” yelled Sara.

 

A sophomore in a crocodile onesie slithered onto the stage, causing Amaya to yelp and jump off the boat set, just as rehearsed.

 

They were almost done.

 

Sara went over to Ava and untied her, just as Nate and Ray walked up to them, after Ray was brought back onstage.

 

“Oh Peter, you’ve done it, you’ve truly done it!” said Ava, still unable to shake the goofy smile off her face.

 

“Yeah.” said Sara, showing a similar grin.

 

“We must get home.” reminded Ray.

 

“Or you could stay with me, in Neverland, and live with all of the lost boys!”

 

“No, Peter,” said Ava, grabbing Sara’s hands unscriptedly “We must go back.”

 

“Well then let me fly you there. Back to your home.”

 

“That sounds like a splendid idea!” Nate cut in. “Here we go!”

 

The lights faded to black for the last scene change and Sara collapsed into Ava for a brief and tight hug. She was going to say something, but the music for the final scene started to play and everyone hit their marks.

 

“Here you guys go.” said Sara “Home sweet home. I’d better be going.”

 

“Can’t you stay longer?” asked Ray.

 

“Yes!” agreed Nate “You must, Peter, you must stay with us forever!”

 

“I’m afraid I can’t.” Said Sara “I need to go back to Neverland and look after the Lost Boys. Now that Hook is taken care of, there will be peace and I can teach the lost boys what your sister taught me.”

 

“Go on off to bed, boys.” ordered Ava “Sunrise is coming in just a few hours.”

 

Nate and Ray got back in their makeshift box beds and the spotlight focused on Sara and Ava.

 

“I must go, but know that I care for you deeply.” said Sara. She’s said this line hundreds of times, but her heartbeat went through the roof and she felt vulnerable for the first time all night.

 

“I care for you deeply as well, Peter.”

 

Without even a moment of a pause, Ava grabbed Sara by the shoulders and pulled her in for the scripted kiss.

 

The lines may have just been words on a page, but the kiss was real, and so was the feeling behind it.

 

The audience whooped and Ava finally pulled away.

 

Sara stood there in awe for a moment before stuttering through her last line.

 

“Th-thank you for that, Wendy. I will… I’ll be going now but I’m never too far away. Keep on dreaming and teaching everyone to find the good in the words. Goodbye, Wendy Darling.”

 

She slipped out through the prop window and sunk down with her back on the wall of it.

 

It was finally done. All she had to do was take her bow, and the night she’d been worrying about for weeks would finally be over. It may have started out shittily, but could it really have gone better?

 

Sara had given a show stopping performance, she powered through her cold, and she still had to talk to Ava, but she got the girl.

 

This was going to warrant one hell of an after-party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come yell at me on tumblr @sanvers-deserved-better!
> 
> Also, if you enjoyed this chapter, comments and kudos are cool.


	20. The After Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The cast deals with the aftermath of the first show, Sara and Ava have /that/ conversation, and everyone eats their body weight in sheet cake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY GUYS! I'm so sorry about the update schedule (or lack of an update schedule) for this fic. School has been kicking my ass and the past few weeks have been a LOT. Nevertheless, thank you all for being so incredibly patient and taking the journey of this fic with me.
> 
> I really liked writing this fic and I hope y'all liked it too. This is probably going to be my last big multi-chapter fic for a while, only because I simply don't have the time to consistently update stuff anymore, but don't worry, I have some cool stuff planned and once we get our first glimpse of Charlie, I'll most likely jump aboard the Zarlie ship and start writing for them.
> 
> ANYWAY, comments and kudos are awesome.
> 
> Enjoy!!

As the audience dispersed and started to spread out, the actors rushed backstage to change out of anything especially uncomfortable before rushing to the after-party.

“Sara, you coming?” asked Ray, ripping off his microphone.

Sara groaned “I need a minute.”

“Ray, come on, we're going to miss the cake!” said Zari, dragging him by the arm out of the backstage area of the auditorium and into the hall.

Sara closed her eyes for a minute, but opened them again when she felt the couch beside her dip.

“They're not gonna cut the cake without the star of the show, so I'd advise you to get out there before you have an angry mob of hungry teenagers hunting you down.” 

“I know,” said Sara, sitting up and smiling at Ava. “but I have a feeling at least one person will trip over their costume in the hallway and buy us some time.”

As if on cue, there was a thud in the hallway before Nate could be heard groaning. 

Ava turned to Sara and the both of them laughed for a minute, before returning to their calm silence.

“I'm sorry for being a dick earlier.” said Ava, breaking the silence.

“About what?”

“The locker thing.” she clarified “I should have known it wasn't you, and even if it  _ was _ you, I was acting like a child.”

“I- what?” asked Sara.

“Before the food fight, Amaya said that  _ you'd  _ never do anything like that, and at first I was confused but then I kind of put it together that you had nothing to do with salsa-bombing me.”

Sara nodded “Oh. It's okay. You had no way of knowing that it wasn't me.”

“Why didn't you say anything?”

“I don't know,” Sara shrugged “ _ I  _ didn't know what happened right away, and then… I don't know. I couldn't talk to you without getting all flustered.”

“You're not getting like that now.” Ava pointed out.

“To be fair, I'm barely conscious right now.”

Zari ran backstage to where Ava and Sara were still talking on the couch “Yo, people are wondering where you two are.”

“You mean, they're not letting anyone eat cake without us and you came back here to hurry it up?” corrected Ava with a cocky grin.

Zari nodded “Same thing. I'd estimate you guys have about two minutes before all hell breaks loose.”

“We'll be there.” assured Sara. She waited unti Zari disappeared back down the hall before turning to face Ava.

“I want you to be my girlfriend again.”

She braced herself for the inevitable rejection, but was surprised when Ava smiled.

“Okay.” she said “Let's do it.”

Sara felt a surge of energy for the first time all night and cupped Ava's face, before pausing. 

“I really want to kiss you right now, but I don't want to get you sick.” she said with a frown.

“You've already kissed me once tonight, and whatever cold I get is more than worth it.”

Ava put her hand on Sara's shoulder and closed the gap between them.

After weeks of weirdness and tension, it felt so goood to finally be  _ together _ .

Ava pulled away after a moment “I want to stay here forever, but we have a cake to cut.”

Sara nodded and reluctantly peeled herself off of the leather couch.

“Let's get this bread.”

_____________________

“Oh my god,  _ finally!” _ said Nate, turning to face the rest of the cast and crew “They're here! Time for cake!”

Everyone let out a cheer before frantically grabbing plates and swarming one of the cafeteria tables covered in food.

Ava grabbed Sara's hand and intertwined their fingers “Do you want to get food?”

“Not yet. I feel like if we try and get anywhere  _ near _ the mob of people at least one of us will lose an arm.”

“Fair enough.” Ava laughed.

The couple found a table to sit at that was off to the side from the crowd. After a few minutes, Zari and Amaya walked over.

“Hey.” said Amaya, grabbing Zari and slipping into the seats across from them.

“Are you two about to head out?” asked Sara.

Zari nodded “Yeah. We just wanted to get a chance to talk to everyone so we can say we were here.”

Sara chuckled “Fair enough.”

“So, is this,” Amaya gestured between Sara and Ava “like a  _ thing _ now, or what?”

“I could ask the same about you.” teased Sara, causing Zari to duck her head down to hide her blush.

“Yes.” answered Ava “We're together. Officially.”

Sara rested her head on Ava's shoulder and Amaya ‘awwed’ at them.

“Well, we’re going to get going.” said Zari, standing up “Sara, are you sure you're good? We can stay if you-”

Sara cut her off “I'll be fine. Ray already offered to drive me home and this whole ZzzQuil situation is nothing a night of sleep can't fix.”

“That's good. Feel better.” said Zari, practically dragging Amaya out the door.

Almost immediately after they were gone, Ray and Nate piled into the seats Zari and Amaya had been sitting in, struggling to carry four plates of food.

Nate slid two of them to Sara and Ava “Here.”

Sara thanked him and took a bite. The group was quiet for a moment, enjoying the store-bought sheet cake, before Ray spoke up.

“So Amaya told me you two are back together.”

“She couldn't go thirty seconds without telling the rest of the group.” Ava remarked with a laugh.

“So is it official?” asked Nate “When are you guys going to announce it?”

Sara gave Ava a questioning look and Ava nodded. Before anyone knew what was happening, Sara was standing on the table.

“Can I have everybody's attention for a sec?”

The crowd of students looked up and a hush fell over the crowd.

“I want to start off by saying that you all did an incredible job with the play. This has been an awesome experience, and y'all were amazing.”

Sara paused while the audience applauded and cleared her throat. Her voice was already starting to go back to the way it was a few hours before the show.

“Secondly,” she continued “I just wanted to announce that I'm dating Ava Sharpe and I love her a lot.”

The reactions were scattered. There was some cheering from people who knew Sara and blank stares from those who didn't. 

“That is all.” she said, stepping down and leaning back into Ava's shoulder.

“Damn.” said Nate, after the conversations had started up again. 

“That's how it's done.” said Sara.

Ava smiled and placed a kiss to Sara's forehead. “It's kind of weird how far we've come since all of this.”

“Yeah.” agreed Sara “I'm glad all of this happened, though.”

Ray jumped in “Zari told me to tell you that your relationship is technically her doing, because she was the one that made Sara audition for the play in the first place.”

“Well tell Zari I say thanks.” Said Ava with a laugh.

“Are you ready to go?” asked Ray, “I promised Amaya I'd get you home safe.”

“Yeah, I guess.” said Sara, untangling her body from where Ava's arms were around her.

“Call me tomorrow, yeah?” asked Ava.

“Of course.”

As Sara was putting on her coat, Wally rushed over.

“Hey, so I was kind of supposed to take pictures of the cast for the yearbook club and I  _ kind of  _ completely forgot, so would you guys mind posing real quick?”

“No problem, buddy.” said Nate.

The four of them posed with their play makeup smudged and their eyes tired, for a picture that would forever commemorate their time working on Peter Pan.

Wally's camera flashed and in an instant, the picture was taken and set to appear in the yearbook, so that looking back, everyone eould be able to look back at their tired faces and silly costumes and laugh.

______________

Nearly twenty-four hours later, everyone was crowded backstage again for the last performance of the weekend. After this, there would only be one more show left for the students, and then the play would become old news.

Sara hadn't yet gotten over her cold, but it helped that she took the right medication this time.

She walked up to Ava who was trying to get her microphone rigged up and hugged her from behind.

Ava smiled and turned around to kiss Sara. 

“Hey.”

“You nervous?” asked Sara.

“With you?” Ava cocked an eyebrow and smiled “Of course not.”


End file.
